Running for Sherry!

Today was a day of meaningful running for me... the biggest reason? 

Most of you have heard by now the story of Sherry Arnold.  She was a devoted mother, wife, and teacher who went for a run in her small hometown in Montana and never returned home.   Two men have been arrested in connection with her disappearance and charged with aggravated kidnapping.  Apparently one of the men has admitted to killing her... unfortunately the authorities have yet to find her body.  Beth over at Shut Up and Run decided to put together a virtual run in her memory.

This story hit me like a ton of bricks when I first heard about it.  As a runner who does 99% of my runs alone, it gave me chills that this could have been me.  Since this announcement, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about Sherry and pray for closure for her family.  Hopefully she can be brought home soon.

Today, we had a local 5k race, the Fanny Freezer, and many of us decided we would make this our "run for Sherry."  There were 5-6 of us who wore bibs in her memory and a few more who were running in her memory but were unable to print the bibs.

 Before the race I stepped aside to have a moment of silence and say some prayers for Sherry and her family.   I don't have many details about the race because for me this race was about remembering Sherry (and not falling on my butt).   But, I do want to mention that about 3/4 a mile into the race while lost in thoughts of Sherry I had a whoosh of "peacefulness" come over me.  It was almost like Sherry was there with me as I ran, it was very powerful.  Even though I never met her and didn't know of her before this happened, I feel a connection to her and will always remember her.

This was also a pretty meaningful run for me because it was the anniversary of my first road race!  I ran this exact race last year as my first ever race, so I was interested to see how I had improved.  Last year I ran the 5k in 30:06, this year my time was 25:06.  While it was not a PR, the conditions were less than ideal... it was FRIGID, there was snow and ice, and of course I am dealing with slight injury.   It was good enough to take second in my age group... hooray!  So, I definitely can't complain.  My shins did okay, but I did have some slight pain today, but the biggest complaints I have are my calves have totally seized up since the race and my lungs hurt SO bad for about an hour after the race, I just couldn't catch my breath!

about half way done

For my records, my splits:
mile 1 - 7:34 (WHY do I always go out way too fast?!?)
mile 2 - 8:19 (see, I died!)
mile 3 - 8:11
last .1 - 0:42 ish (somewhere around 7:00 min/mile pace)

             

waving at the finish

        

pushing to the finish

On the subject of my shins:  I went to the ortho and it was a total waste of my time.  He basically said "come back in 3 weeks if it still hurts."  Grrr!  He believes it is probably just shin splints and said a stress fracture wouldn't show on an xray at this point anyway.  So, I am taking some anti-inflammatory meds and resting this week.  Next week I will get back to training, I feel like I am going to be behind, but I may have to cut back the long runs for now depending on the shins!  The worst part of all this?  The meds I was prescribed keep me from sleeping at night, the last two nights I have been awake til nearly 6 am!!  Makes it really hard to take care of kids when you get that little of sleep!

Hope you all have a great weekend.  Did anyone else run in memory of Sherry?  I would love to hear about it and/or see your photos! 

Doubts, running, and new challenges!

I started my blog pretty late into my weight-loss journey.  I had been thinking it would be nice to have an outlet so to speak, a diary/journal of the struggles and successes I was dealing with.  A forum for me to share what has worked for me, a way to potentially motivate others like me.

Now that I have the blog I have to admit I feel a bit of pressure to make it something more.  I never realized how many bloggers were out there.  I read the blogs that others write and I get a bit green with envy.  I want so badly to be witty and amusing like they are.  I don't know how to write other than to lay it all out there on the line.  And, quite frankly I am not the most amusing person, I live a pretty boring life.  I don't know what to write about that will be interesting to my readers.  I wish that I was better and sharing my advice and successes with you all.  I am trying to get better at it, so please bear with me. 

Onto the running portion of my blog... I am supposed to be on a "break" from running but the weather has been SO beautiful the last few days that I have been lacing up my shoes every day for the last three days.  While I am running when I should be resting, I am at least being careful to ensure that I an not running if things hurt.  I have become much more aware of my aches and pains.  I posted before about my run on Sunday.  But, I thought I would post about my Monday and Tuesday runs for posterity. 

Monday was supposed to be in the 40s and nice, unfortunately it certainly didn't feel that way.  I think it was in the 30s with some decent wind.  Not that I am complaining too loudly, because it certainly beats the snow they are forecasting for later this week!  I didn't really have a plan for mileage on Monday, I just started running.  About 3 miles into it I realized that I was probably going to be able to hit 5 miles without too much problem.  When I stopped to get water at 3.4 miles my knee was bothering me to walk... but doesn't hurt at all when I run.  I am still a new runner, so I totally don't get whats going on with that.  Because it didn't hurt to run, I decided it would be safe to finish up my mileage. I really love running the trails around town, so much more fun and enjoyable than running the streets of my association!  I don't remember many of the details of this run, I was really just enjoying the chill of the beautiful day.  It was cloudy, but truly it was beautiful!  I managed 5 miles in 43:41.  And my mile splits weren't too shabby.  I still need to work on the whole "negative splits" concept, but I feel like I am making progress.  I am not going out too strong, I typically have a slower first mile and build my speed.  In a 4-5 mile run I typically have one mile where I "die" a bit, but its progress, right?   And, aren't my readers lucky - I snapped a picture of my sweaty self after running 5 miles! 

1	8:45.6	1.00	8:46
2	8:30.6	1.00	8:31
3	8:24.7	1.00	8:25
4	8:25.3	1.00	8:25
5	8:32.4	1.00	8:32
6	1:02.0	0.13	8:12

Tuesday's run was pretty much, more of the same.  Well, except for the fact that I really didn't want to go.  I have been "stuck" weight wise for a few days and it really hit me this morning.  I wanted to do nothing more than lay in bed all day.  Luckily, I have two kids who depend on me - I have to take my daughter to preschool and my son counts on his daily time with his friends.  So, I grudgingly pulled on my running pants and shoes and headed out the door.  Once I started running, I was REALLY glad that I had gotten out there.  It was so beautiful, sunny and "warm." I honestly couldn't have asked for much better - it felt like early spring out! I mean, look at how beautiful the sky is in that picture... I was definitely glad I had my sunglasses though.  The run didn't feel easy per say, but it didn't feel super challenging either, I almost felt like a "real runner."  I sort of felt like a wimp for stopping at 3.5 miles today when it was so beautiful out but I decided better safe than sorry since it was my third day in a row running.  Another "easy" 3.5 miles in the books for 2012 in 29:38.  One exciting thing about today's run - I managed negative splits for the first three miles!  I tried something new for me today, I ran the last half mile of my run at a slower pace as a cool down.  Seems pretty obvious that you should do that, but northe mally I just run "balls to the wall" until I die and then I collapse somewhere without stretching and cooling down.  Not wise, I know! Anway, today's splits.. 

1	8:45.0	1.00	8:45
2	8:21.5	1.00	8:22
3	8:10.1	1.00	8:10
4	4:21.4	0.51	8:33

Last but not least, my buddy Audrey over at A Mama's Goals has so graciously decided to share her 2012 challenge with her blog followers and friends. She will be posting a new challenge each week - the goal of the challenge is to show her (and us) how easy it can be to include things that are outside of your comfort zone into your life.  I am hoping that as a result of these challenges I will be able to bring some balance to my life.  One of the things I love the most about her challenge is that not all the challenges will be related to fitness and running.

The first week the challenge was to do 30 minutes of instructional workout each day.  I managed to satisfy this goal with a yoga and pilates dvd that I did 5 days of the week, and I rounded out the week with a couple days of yoga booty ballet dvds.  The second week was more of a challenge for me, the task was to write a handwritten thank you note each day.  Luckily it was right after Christmas so I sent mostly thank you notes for gifts we had received plus a couple to some of my good friends.  

So here we are, week three... the challenge this week is to drink 90 ounces of water and eat 8 servings of fruits and veggies per day.  The water part, no problem... I already drink that much anyways.  The fruits and veggies on the other hand... so not my thing.  I do love fruit but I haven't been eating a ton of it and I hate veggies.  Surprisingly I have been able to stick to it the last few days.  Both days I have ended up having 3 servings of veggies and 5 servings of fruit.  I think it probably should be reversed, but I am trying! 

Sorry this is so long winded, hope all is well with my bloggy readers.   One last mention, please send up prayers for missing runner Sherry Arnold.  She has been missing from Sidney, Montana since Saturday morning with no leads except for them finding her shoe.  It's hit the running bloggy community hard obviously, and I think its shaken our sense of security.  I know I am definitely more aware of my surroundings than I used to be, its things like this that make me wish I had a partner to run with. 

Besides running with a partner, what do you do to ensure you stay safe while running?