Category Archives: running

Crawdad Days

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A few weeks ago, I crowned my successor as Ms. Classic Crawdad Days. I had so much fun holding that title last year. First, I was so excited to have won!

I competed in the 40+, Ms. Classic, division. At 62, I was the oldest person in the pageant. I’ve been competing in pageants for 25 years and it was the firs time I’d ever been crowned on stage and it was thrilling. I loved the ladies I competed with. They were so kind and fun to hang out with all day. It helped to wipe out a previous bad pageant experience and even if I hadn’t won, it would’ve been a great experience.

The Crawdad Festival was fun and we hung out all day at the festival, held a baby contest, rode rides, and went to the rodeo. I’d never been to a rodeo before and that was a high point, one I definitely want to experience again.

There is a 5k run for the festival. It was super early and it was COLD last year so I didn’t get to the festival in time for the race. And this year, I didn’t go to the festival at all but I’ve been paying attention on Facebook

On Saturday was this year’s 5K race. Do you know there was not one woman over 60 who participated in that 5K? The oldest woman to run was 58. There were for 60+ men and 2, 70+ men!

It’s things like this that cause me to add to my goals list. I keep a goals list and there are around 50 or so items on it at all times. Big things, little things, but all things I for sure what to do or try.

I have added the Crawdad Days 5K to my goals list. Next year, darnit, there will be a woman over 60 who competes. I actually have the USMC Marathon on my goals list for 2025. It takes place in November so a 5K in mid-May seems more than reasonable.

Who’s going to join me?

K is for Knowing Yourself

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I’m going to quit running. Although it’s been a fun challenge to get back into it, at this point in time, I don’t think it’s the best thing for me.

I used to run all the time back in the early 90s, as I’ve mentioned. It was super hard to start running again. Harder than I remember it being back in the day but it was a challenge. Being able to take full breaths to the bottom of my lungs was exciting. It’s the biggest reason I don’t want to stop. 

Getting faster or adding more mileage on every run was another fun part of the process. I got such satisfaction from that. But, being honest with myself, running is just not for me. At least not right now. Maybe not ever again.

I love to walk and I walk everywhere. My last run not only made my left foot hurt really bad but it made the lower right side of my back hurt.  Am I still too heavy? I don’t know. That could be it. Maybe I’m just too old, even though I know a lot of much older people than I, run But if my foot and back hurt so much that I can’t walk the rest of the day, is it worth it? I don’t think so.

I have several running goals on my goals list: 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon. I read books about ultra runners (50+ miles) and think, “Wow! Wouldn’t that be cool to do?” But I might just have to let it go.

I think you really have to know yourself at all times to make sure you’re giving yourself the best. So that’s what I’m doing here, what I know is best for me, giving up running. At least for now. I’ll still get plenty of exercise with my running and cycling, both of which I love. I just may have to re-evaluate my goals list. But that’s okay. There’s always more goals to add to the list to achieve. 😀

E is for Exercise

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I do a lot of exercise. Believe it or not, I even like it! I’ve been a walker for a lot of years. For most of my walking miles, David has been with me and I think of it as our alone time where it’s just us and no distractions. But even when David hasn’t been home, I still walk. 

walk

I was waiting to lose down to a certain weight to start running again. I used to run a lot in the early 1990s but felt like I was just too heavy to run now even though my walks were getting faster and faster and I had friends on the runkeeper app encouraging me to just run.

When we moved here, I left the scale behind. Because I had no idea if I was at the magical number that would allow me to begin running, I just started running. And it was hard. No, it was HARD. 😀 I ran quite a lot of distance back in the day and I just don’t remember it being so hard back then. Of course I was 25 years younger so that could’ve had something to do with it. But I persevered telling myself, “pretty soon, this will be your warm up”.

run

Now, I’m not there yet but I have been able to to gradually increase my mileage and I’m now up to two miles a day. Best of all, I’m getting air all the way down to the bottom of my lungs the whole run. Which is great since I like to breathe.

And cycling. How I love that. I’ve been doing that twice a week since I got my bike. I go a little further each time and it’s just fun. 

Every day living here in Downtown San Jose, involves a lot of exercise. Unless I have the dog or  something really heavy, I always take the stairs. Our apartment is on the third floor and the garage is even one floor further down. I walk every where downtown. Library, grocery store, post office, dinner. It’s great. I’ve been more active here than I have been in a lot of years.

And I like it. I really do. I love feeling strong when I’m walking down the street. I love feeling accomplished when I get done with a run or bike ride. I know this is good for my health but it’s also good for my mind. I am a rare person who doesn’t wear headphones while exercising. I have deep discussions with my inner self and I come to a lot of conclusions, make a lot of plans this way.

If you don’t exercise every day let me encourage you to give it a try. Even just a ten minute walk to start is better than nothing at all. Then work your way up little by little until you are enjoying more physical and mental well being. You’ll be glad you did! 😀

I Ran!

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I was so excited to run this morning. I used to run all the time, completing as much as a 20k. I was a member of the Chicago Area Runners and I did races a couple of times a month. My favorite race was the Chicago Avenue On The Run that took place on Mother’s Day. My favorite distance was the 10k.

I don’t “look” like a runner. I’ve never been built that way. I’m built for distance, not speed. I was never fast but I was never the last person across the finish line either. 

It’s been a long, long time since I ran with any regularity. I ran some for fitness 15 years ago but it’s been since the early 90s since I was a regular runner.

Still, on my goals list I have a 5k, 10, half marathon and a whole marathon.

Before we left Tulsa, I told myself I’d start running again once I reached a certain weight. But since I’ve banished the scale now and have no clue how much I weigh, I decided that today would be a good day to start.

I’m still learning my way around here and I got a nice warmup walking to the trail where i wanted to run. I am pretty sure there’s got to be a better way to get there than the one I chose that included a LOT of stop lights and traffic. 

I got to the trail and started running. It was HARD. Every time a bike passed me I thought, “I need a bike”. More than once I thought, “I’m never doing this again” but an interesting thing happened on my walk home. Where I happened to get a little lost-ish thereby extending my cool down by about a half a mile. 

I thought, “You know what? I will do that again! It was good. I can’t believe I actually ran!” 

That put a smile on my face. 😀

Like my friend Marie told me this a.m.

I know that’s true. I’m excited for that day. I’ve planned a half marathon in September and a full marathon in May of 2016. It will be so much fun to cross those off of my goals list. 🙂

Unintended

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So you know I made a deal with my BFF’s husband to run a marathon next year. And I’ve been gearing up to start running again. But…I’ve been way too afraid to go out the door and run. I was afraid someone would laugh at me.

On Saturday, there was a run here, in Bartlesville. I hadn’t heard about it so I googled it when we got back from walking Boo Boo. Turns out it was even a 10k which used to be my favorite distance.

I looked at the map and I saw that it followed the Pathfinder north and behind the police station before ending up Downtown again. Hmmm. I have seen the Pathfinder but never really knew where to get on it.

When we were driving back from grocery shopping, I asked David if we couldn’t turn on the road that would take us to that spot on the race map and he did. Guess what? There’s an entrance to the Pathfinder with a parking lot and everything!

Suddenly…

I figured that if I went down to the Pathfinder to run, there would be way fewer people to see me. And that’s what I did today.

Today was supposed to be a recon mission. Check it out, see how it goes, who was there. I planned to walk and loaded a 60 minute Latin walking file onto my iPod. I planned to run tomorrow provided the Pathfinder was suitably empty.

When I turned on my iPod, it wasn’t the Latin walking workout, it was the Jeff Galloway 30/30 Run/Walk workout. So…I decided to go for it.

It went well! Yes, running feels weird at this weight. I haven’t run since 1999 and I was considerably lighter then. But the 30 seconds running alternating with 30 seconds of walking made it into a workout that I could do.

Wee hoo! I was so excited to run. I’m really going to run a marathon. But first up is The Color Run in June. 🙂

Getting ready to run

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When I was down in Texas last week, my best friend’s husband said, “Let’s run a marathon”. Without hesitation, I replied, “okay”.

I haven’t run with any regularity since the late 1980’s when we lived in Chicago. I was a member of the Chicago Area Runners and I ran all the time. I loved it, especially the 10K distance.

I’ve never run a marathon (my longest was a half-marathon) but it’s on my bucket list.

I ordered the book that Jason is using called 4 Months to a 4 Hour Marathon and it was waiting for me when I got back to Arkansas.

I remembered when I had been running before, I used Jeff Galloway’s program and I ordered his book, too.

I am way too heavy to run a marathon any time soon. The Little Rock Marathon runs right past our house here and it’s the first weekend in March so that’s the target. For next year.

This morning, I joined the Little Rock Roadrunners Club. They have a meeting right around the corner next week which I plan to attend.

One more important thing I need is a great pair of shoes. A pair of shoes for an old, fat woman. LOL! Once I get my club membership packet (which includes a discount card) I’ll be going to a local running store and having them fit me with shoes.

Just like when I wanted to do kettlebell swings and got professional training, I’m smart enough to know that shoes make ALL the difference in the world.

I’ll never be fast but, with a great pair of shoes, I can run forever.

So, getting ready to run. I’m excited. It’s quite the challenge.

And now that I’ve put it out there for everyone to see, I have to do it. 😉