Better Late than Never

I did do a fun run on September 26 in San Diego. First, let me say it was along the bay and beautiful. It was however, the worst running experience of my life. I did finish it and I was only two minutes below my PR. It didn't help to start with shin splints. But my calf cramps and my neuropathy were also really bad. Physically the hardest run I have ever done. There were times I really didn't think I would be able to finish, I was having issues just lifting my feet for a while. I kept going and really did enjoy being by the water.  I would love to run there again!

And Here we go Again.....

I loved Albuquerque Fit however, I found myself out of town or otherwise unable to make it to several runs this summer and ended up quitting.  I couldn't keep up with them, I was the slowest by far and I just got further behind. I did learn a lot by going and improved the run endurance for the run/walk.  I think I will do it again someday if I can get myself to stick with it long enough to progress from slower than a Heard of Turtles.

So I will be going to San Diego the end of September and I decided I wanted to do a 5k next to the ocean.  So I looked up up runs and found this Fun Run that runs next to the bay.  It is really pretty it has a park and a nice hotel on the other side.  Now all I have to do is get so I can run/walk 3.1 miles again :-)  My goal is to run 1 minute/walk 1 minute the whole 3.1 miles.  I started training last week and all is still going well.  I am working out 5 days a week and should be where I need to go by the end of September.  Here is a picture of the path. The path is not that wide but I expect to be by myself, I doubt there are many runners as slow as me.

Albuquerque Fit/ USA Fit

I wrote this May 9, 2015 however I forgot to hit post :-)

I have been wishing I had a running group or someone to help me answer questions I have.  Therefore, I started looking online for running groups.  I found USA Fit and they have a chapter her in Albuquerque called Albuquerque Fit.

Wow, I started running with Albuquerque Fit today and it was all I had imagined plus more.  It is a running group that says they take all levels.  Now, I knew I would be the slowest there so that was no surprise when it was true. They train for 10k, half marathons, and marathons.  I have run a 5K before so I signed up for the 10k. There slowest pace group is 13 minutes and my pace is usually about 16:45.  They encourage the run walk method which I do.  I usually run 20 seconds and walk 1 minute.  There lowest group was run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute.  It was hard, but I did it for 1.5 miles. I am so excited! I started running again April 21st I ran 1.5 miles with a pace of 17:14.  I was dead tired when I finished.  Today I ran 1.5 miles in 15:16.

I have hard time with really stiff calves.  They had lots of ideas to help with that.  My 10k coach took the time to stretch with me at the end explaining why and how to do each stretch.  Emphasizing exercises that would help with my calves. They give you a running plan for the week.

Looking for Running Motivation

Looking for Running Motivation

I am trying to figure out ways to stay motivated to run.  I read a blog and the blogger talked about reading "Runners World" religiously so I bought one and thought I could read it in the car while waiting for kids.  Most of their articles are short.  I also started looking around for running blogs.
Since I have started running again (run/walk), I never got to where I could really run when I was doing it before, I am hoping to get further in running this time. Last time it never got easy.  I am hoping to get to the point where I can actually run many miles, but I am afraid that might be a pipe dream.  I found a blog called myfitfamily.com.  I loved the article called The Running Theif.  Here are two excerpts from it that I really liked.

1 - 7 years and thousands of miles ago, I couldn’t run a single mile without stopping.  I couldn’t run a mile without feeling like my lungs were going to burst out of me, without feeling like my knees weren’t meant to run, without worrying: but I don’t look like a runner.
This makes me feel like I have hope.  I can only run about 400 meters without stopping then I need about 400 meters of walking! So maybe I can get there also.

2 - My running truths are that it never really does get easy. You’ll learn to love that some days you’ll look forward to a run and other days you’ll have to drag yourself out the door–confused how you can love something so much yet some days find it so challenging.  You’ll learn that sometimes it takes you a long time to get warmed up in your run but when you do, everything falls in place and for a moment–maybe a mile, or quite a few miles–it does feel easy. You’ll learn that that easy feeling will come and go and that sometimes you’ll want to run a pace that feels comfortable and some days you’ll want to push the pace so hard you feel like your lungs are going to burst and somehow—both runs will leave you feeling smiling, breathless and thankful.   This part made me feel better.  I thought it would get easier and it never really did.  I guess as long as you push yourself it won't be easy.  But I want to get to the part where you really love it whether or not it is hard.

Also if you are just starting to run like I am here is an Open letter from Seejenroerun. I learned a lot from it too.

How do you stay motivated?  Are their blogs or magazines you read to keep you motivated?  If so let me know in the comment section.

Back in the Sadle

What happened?  I took a couple weeks off, that turned in to a couple of months that turned into 7 months! I don't know how that happens. So today is Day 1.  It was a good run, I felt good afterwards.  I never feel good during ;-).  I started at a 15/45 pace and I didn't like it.  I felt that every time I started to run it was time to stop.  I switched to a 20/40 pace which I liked better.  At one point I was pretty tired so I figure that was the right pace.  I saw some geese and their babies on the Rio Grande.  It is hard to take a picture with your iphone while running and the zoom isn't that great either.  But here they are. 

5k race today!

 Well I haven't been running a lot lately, but we took the whole family to the Hearts for Honduras Run.  William rocked the 5K with a time of 22:06. I doubled his time with a little over 47 minutes.  I didn't hear the guy when I came across the finish line and I don't know where to find the results. My watch said 47:06 but I started it a few seconds late.  It was a really hard run for me, because I haven't run in about a month, which made this more difficult. However, I averaged 15:30 miles which is the best I have ever done in a 5K. I was proud of myself even though I know that is slow.  A friend ran by me to finish his 10K in the home stretch. I was amazed that he had the energy he did to sprint to the end, I was just happy to still be jogging (and I was only doing the 5K). Greg finished about 10 minutes in front of me.  Shelby and Wesley ran the kids K.  They had a great time.  Mitchell watched the little ones while Greg, William and I ran.

Finally back to where I was in March, kind of.....

 As I said in a previous post I took about a month off of running.  And I regressed a lot.  It has taken a month of running to get to the same run/walk ratio I was at when I took my break.  I ran 30/45 today.  I was dead when I got home and I am totally feeling it, but I did it. 

My short term goal is a 10K  I signed up to run on  Labor Day.  I am really nervous about being able to run 6.2 miles.  I have never done it before. I ran 5 miles in March and felt like I was going to die.  I will run 5 miles again this Saturday.  I would also like to be able to run a little faster. I am totally prepared to be the last one across the finish line, it is more about finishing for me :-)

The best thing about my short runs is that there are balloons every morning. Here are some of my views. It is hard to take pictures on your iphone as you are working out.