A Runner’s Balancing Act

Still in total shock from being laid off on Friday, I spent most of last Saturday avoiding my thoughts, not ready to tackle the mountain of job and soul searching that lay ahead of me.  I went on a short easy run with a friend mid-morning Saturday, but my heart wasn’t in it. I told my friend about the layoff, but I wasn’t eager to vent my fears to her. I was still feeling pretty numb about the entire thing.  After the run, I sat out on my back patio and read a book most of the afternoon, pretty much ignoring the housework for the day. Not a typical Saturday for me at all. Saturday night I did not sleep well and woke up well before dawn, my fears were starting to rise up into my conscious mind. I finally got out of bed at 5 am and slipped into my running clothes in the darkness.  I NEEDED a good run.

After force feeding myself a bowl of Honey Nut Cherios, and blogging while it digested, I was out the door around 6:45 a.m.  It was about 50 degrees when I left. I had no idea where I was going, or how far.  All I knew was that I had about 2 hours before I needed to be back if I wanted to make church at 10 am. My only goal was to try to get myself back to feeling normal. Two nights of not sleeping or having an appetite was enough.

As the sun came up, I ran the first few miles around the Fountain park. There were a few early birds out walking their dogs, but other than that, the park was pretty empty. With very few cars on the road, it was a peaceful scene. As I ran, I didn’t really put any pressure on myself to think, I just let my mind wander as I listened to my music. The day before, I’d purchased a few new songs on Itunes and put together a long playlist  that was calming yet uplifting.

Fountain Park at Dawn

After a few miles I turned west into some neighborhoods that I had never explored on foot. I felt like exploring. I grew up in this town, so I kind of know my way around by feel. I knew that heading west meant I’d be in for some hills. Fountain Hills sits on the edge of the McDowell Mountains, and you are always going towards the mountains as you go west. I was surprised that my legs seemed to tackle the hills almost with ease. I could feel my muscles burning and my heart pounding and yet it felt good. I felt in control of my body and strong. The higher I climbed, the better the views got. I began to realize how grateful I was to be in good enough shape to enjoy the climb and the long run without being physically overwhelmed.

I stopped a time or two to soak up the view and drink my Gatorade. The mountains were absolutely stunning, and the town in the valley below was bathed in a hazy early morning sunlight. I thought about Psalm 121, a verse I’d memorized long ago:
“I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD,the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Photos after the first few miles of running uphill

After about a 2.5 miles of gradual uphill (5-6 miles total), I made it to Saguaro Blvd, which is main road I could have taken back to my house. I felt good, so instead going home, I dipped into another neighborhood and headed west again for another mile and a half of gradual elevation gain. I was pushing the pace even harder as I went up hill, feeling increasingly strong and confident as I ran. I started to say to myself “I am strong”,”I am determined”, “I am talented” and I wasn’t referring to running.
When I reached Palisades Blvd, I stopped for a moment to appreciate what I had just accomplished and to suck down a power gel. I have ALWAYS wanted to run Palisades Blvd. I drive that road everyday on my way to work and I have always pictured myself running it. Some of the most beautiful views in town can be seen from Palisades but it is a MOUNTAIN to climb from where my house is. Fortunately, the neighborhood street I was running on dumped me out right at the crest of Palisades. I only had to run the down part from there.

Looking down on Sunridge Golf Course

The View from Palisades

After about 4 miles of climbing, I was treated to fantastic views and about 2 miles of rolling downhills. My legs started going and I felt like I was flying. I looked down at my Garmin a few times and saw paces around 6:30 min/mi (this on the sharp down hills mind you). The music I was listening seemed to be the perfect soundtrack to how I felt. It was the runners high multiplied 1000 times. I was happy, I was confident, and I was ready to tackle whatever mountain was ahead of me in life.

After I descended into town, I ended up going back to the park to do another loop before heading home, still pushing the pace, still feeling fantastic. When I finally got home I’d done 13 miles in about 1 hour 50 minutes. As I stood on my front driveway and stretched, I was happy. Whatever happens, I can handle it. I’m strong.

Later that day, I tackled some of the research I needed to do with a clear head. My appetite returned and I slept well that night.

Running. Its my drug of choice.

Elevation profile of the run.

Its been pretty crazy over the last few days. I had been hoping to sit down and blog at some point this weekend, but the opportunity never arose. I leave for San Francisco early Friday morning and there are so many things I needed to do before I leave.  I know that if I didn’t do laundry, pack and run all my errands by the end of the weekend, I’d probably be up all night on Thursday night trying to get it done last minute. I really want to avoid that because I always try hard to make some “deposits” into my “sleep account” during the week before a marathon. No staying up late!  That way, even if I don’t sleep well on the night of the race, I will have some rest “saved up”.

I have so many things to tell! First, MY HAMSTRING FEELS FINE! PHEW!!!  I ran 7 miles with TNT Saturday morning and no pain whatsoever. I went out Sunday morning for an easy 3 miler and ran some medium hills just to see how it felt,  and still no pain. So I am in the clear. Thank you all for your suggestions! They really worked! I’m going to continue gentle stretching and massage up until Sunday, just to be sure.

More good news… my husband and I celebrated our anniversary this weekend. We don’t normally give each other expensive gifts for our anniversary, but this year I was pleasantly surprised when Joe pulled out an Amazon box and told me it was my anniversary gift.  Guess what it was?  A GARMIN 205. YIPPEEE!!!!!!!!  I have the best hubby! I took it out Sunday morning on my 3 mile jog. I was able to get the software installed on my Mac yesterday afternoon and have already figured out how to program workouts with the “virtual partner” and set it to record my my splits.  Has anyone ever run a marathon with the “virtual partner”? I’m not sure if I should mess with that this time or not.

I also got a new camera phone this weekend. Thanks to Verizon’s “new every two” program I didn’t have to pay too much for it.  I had been researching this one for awhile. I got the Samsung FlipShot which has a 3 megapixel digital camera incorporated which is like 1000 times better than the crappy little thumbnails that my old phone produced. It’s pretty cool. The top part of the flip phone spins around so that the screen becomes a view finder just like a digital camera. It’s still not quite the quality of a good digital camera, but its decent for snapshots and small enough to carry with me in my hydration belt. During the 7 miler on Saturday, I practiced taking it out of my belt and snapping pictures on the run. It was pretty easy.

Hanging out at the park with the team after the run.

Shelia and Liz

Unfortunately the photos were kinda blurry if I didn’t stop running before I hit the button. The sun had yet to come up, so the lower light no doubt slowed down the shutter speed. I’m hoping that with more sunlight the blurriness will be less of an issue. The photos I took standing still were great. Hopefully I will have the energy to take a few shots throughout the Marathon on Sunday. Since I won’t have any family traveling with me, there won’t be anyone to take pictures for me. I’m sure I will be shelling out the bucks for my photos from the pro photographer.

The other neat thing about my phone is that it’s also a music player. So if I really wanted to, I could convert some of my itunes playlist to mp3s and upload them onto my phone. It has a memory card slot so I can expand the memory. Now that I have the Garmin, I don’t need the nike+ as much. If I ditch the ipod, I could be down to just two gadgets!  Although I’m not totally sure if I’m ready to part with my ipod nano. I’m definitely bringing it along on Sunday, in case Sheila and I get separated and I need an extra pick-me up.

Tonight I have a Team in Training “Travel Meeting”. I’m so excited. We get all the details of our itinerary as well as our purple jerseys (finally!). I’m sure I will be super excited after the meeting.

Happy running!

Last week three of my favorite bloggers, Terri, Rachel and Jill posted about kicking butt on their recent long runs. I was happy for them but I will admit, I was also quite jealous. All my long runs this summer have been crap compared to the long runs I did last winter while training for PF Changs. I just kept chalking it up to the hot and sometimes muggy weather. But there was always that little voice telling me that I’m getting slower and I’m not training hard enough during the week.

This past weekend, I finally got my chance to do a little butt kicking of my own.

TNT had an 18 miler scheduled for Saturday morning. I was dreading it. For a multitude of reasons, I never made up the 16 miler I missed when my running buddy and I did our little trail run in the mountains a few weeks ago. Despite a steady diet of 12 – 14 milers all through August, I never made it to 15 or 16.

I was sure those last four miles were going to kill me. But guess what? I SAILED through them! I don’t know what happened but it was like I was flying the entire second half. Sheila was having some knee pain and decided to turn back after about 7 miles. So I was jamming to my music by myself and enjoying the beautiful morning. It was DRY and pretty cool (around 82 degrees) and that made all the difference in the world. I had a hand towel on my hydration belt, but I didn’t use it once. It was so dry that my sweat was evaporating off my skin and keeping me nice and cool.

Even as I passed an incredibly stinky dairy farm, I was in a good mood.  I also passed an airport where a small plain flew over me so close I felt like I could reach out and touch it.

Taken from my cell phone around mile 11. Lots of agricultural fields out there.

I’ve never run on this path (called the Paseo Trail) before TNT but I think I will make a point to come back. We run through Gilbert and Chandler, and as soon as you pass into Chandler the trail is nicely paved and lined with street lamps and the occasional park bench. It’s really nice and not even that crowded. If those lights work it would be a great place for an evening run.

I finished the run in about 2:55 and that time includes a couple of water breaks. (Not all, I started pausing the ipod at water breaks after Sheila departed me. All and all, it was probably about an average of a 9:30 mile not counting water breaks.

Now if the progress I’ve made on my long runs would just catch up with my fundraising, I would be one very happy girl. I have a fundraising event this weekend and I’ve been struggling to find businesses who will donate gift certificates for the auction. I had a little breakdown Saturday afternoon after hitting the town to ask businesses for donations. It was after the 18 miles and I didn’t get my usual nap – probably the reason for my break down. Let me just say that I am a horrible salesman. My sales pitch comes across self-conscious and awkward. I’m so glad that I don’t have to do that for my real job. I would be broke!

Happy running!