GoZone Contest day 2... and Running

I was wrong about the steps contest at my gym. More the 100 people are maxing out their steps daily. But can they do it every day for a month? That will be the real challenge. And in the rules it states......"In the event of a tie, the winner will be randomly chosen in a drawing." So I have a good chance of winning nothing. Oh well. I can still hope and try.


I ran 18 miles in 2:17:30 at the gym to day. After I finished a lady named Lew came up to talk with me about running. She use to run quite a bit, but hurt her knee over a year ago and has had to cut back. After talking for awhile, it seemed like her injury my have been a result of running to much to fast. And doing no leg strength work. I told her what I do to protect my knees and other joints. I also told her that it took me years to get to the level I am at with my running. It felt good to see her getting excited about running. By the time we finished talking, she was saying how she is inspired to work her way up to running marathons or even ultras. And she knows to take her time. I hope I keep seeing her at the gym often. Maybe in a few months she well be training for her first marathon!

I think the best part of running is being able to do something with myself. As a stay at home mom to three small children, it is easy for me to feel like I am not accomplishing anything with my life. I know how much my kids need me, but it can still feel so meaningless. Wash the laundry, load the dishwasher, put someone in timeout, sweep the floors, get someone else a drink, fold the laundry, make lunch, tell who ever is doing the potty dance to use the potty, help pick up the toys, unload the dishes, read 6 kids books 12 times each.......it is the same list of things day in and day out. Two years ago when we first moved down here, I was not doing well at all. The monotony of motherhood had swallowed me whole. I had lost myself in my children, and felt like I was suffocating. My soul was crying out to God for help. I wanted to be able to pour myself into something that had visible results. I knew with my brain that raising my children needed to be top priority in my life, and that what I was doing now would have long term benefits. But my spirit couldn't take it anymore. I needed to do something else- along with being a mother. Something that would make me feel I was doing something God had uniquely equipped me to do for Him. God lead me to Ultra marathoning. (how He lead me here will have to be another blog) I had already run several marathons and was a fairly good runner at most distances. My running ability was nothing too out of the ordinary- at that time my best 5k was just over 20mins and my marathon 3:25. Good times, but far from great. But I had never before considered running more then a marathon. Now the idea of digging deep into myself to find the focus and strength to prepare for a 62 mile race was exactly what I needed.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my body responding so favorably to the riggers of training for an ultra marathon. It seemed like the longer my log runs got, the easier and faster all my other runs became. About 4 months into my 100k training, I raced a half marathon. The course was super hilly and I had no idea what pace I would be running. But being I had pick an even hillier 100k, this half looked like a logical training race. My "tempo runs" at that time where 10 milers done in the 7:20s per mile. I figured, at the very lest, I could pull off each mile in 7:10 for this half. I crossed the finish line in 1:31- averaging under 7 per mile. And I had run negative splits! Being I was the 4th female finisher, I had also earned 60 dollars. Man was I happy! A few weeks later I ran a marathon in 3:17. And I had a bad day that day. My mind was so boggled over running 3:17 on a BAD day that I couldn't feel bad about having raced poorly. Winning $500 upped my spirits, too.

After the marathon, I jogged an easy 4 miles to brake 30 miles for the first time in my running life. My many goal was still to finish a 100k. I knew I needed to run over 30 miles at one time if I wanted to get my mind ready for a 100k. But those last 4 miles where killer! This is when I started freaking out over the idea of running 62 miles at one time. How could I do it!?! I would do it much slower, for one. I had run the whole marathon. But I had learned something in doing the 4 miles after: my body would not be running the whole 62 miles. Walk breaks would be a must. And the running I would do would be done at a pace much slower then my marathon pace. A good lesson to learn before getting to the starting line of a 100k.

I had less then 3 months to recover from this marathon before running my first ultra. Doing this while trying to keep my long runs up proved tough. Most of my runs were now being done on trails that closely mocked those of the 100k. And I bought a CamlBak to keep from dying on the trails. Texas is HOT, and those trails have no water fountains. But I showed up on race morning ready to give it my all.

It was raining that morning. For anyone who is interested, I have a full race report that I will post later. But for now I will say I did it. I finished. And I finished feeling strong. And I won. I am not fool enough to think this means I will always win. But I am fool enough to say it means I could win again. I asked God to give me a way to serve him using myself, and I think He did. It is my running. All of my race times are getting faster. My 5k PR is now 18:05. My tempo runs, while at 6 miles, are done under 6:30. And if I run a marathon again this fall I plan on breaking 3 hours. But my main goal is to go back to that 100k and do much better this time. I wan to see if I can do it fast, know that I know I can cover the distance.