Am I certifiable?

After completing The Dirty Dash mud run I last posted about in May of 2011 and immensely enjoying the run and the fact that I was not the slowest person on our team; and that our team was passing many younger teams; and, rightfully, being proud that I trained for the run and actually completed the 10K, I have decided to train for a 1/2 marathon in September and possibly a full marathon in December.  These are pretty ambitious goals and there are a number of people pointing that out, in a negative way.  I can use that as an incentive to persevere.  I think one of the reasons I decided to run the 1/2 and full, was how easy I found the 10K.

What I was not aware of when I started training for TDD and talking about it, was that I would inspire others to take up running.  (It is amazing how our actions will influence others, so it is important that we be aware of how we are acting at all times.)

So now my training begins in earnest.  I have borrowed a bicycle for cross training, I had to purchase new rear brake pads for it but, now it is ready to go.  All I need to do is get on it and learn how to ride it.  Yesterday I purchased an elliptical trainer, it was $200.00 off at Sears.  I went to look at a rowing machine but Sears did not have one in stock, so I purchased the ET. 

I also purchased a book called "Running WIthin" by Jerry Lynch and Warren Scott that is a guide to mastering the body-mind-spirit connection for ultimate training and running.  I already know that running is a mental game so I will turn to more experience to help with this aspect of my training.

So here I go, starting another adventure, I ask for your support by reading and commenting on my posts, because that is a way to support and encourage me on this journey.

A report to a friend on my Dirty Dash experience

Hi Arabelle,

I have been following your trip updates and all the big things happening in India that make our news, that I have minimized my little race, even though you said in the past that you wanted to hear about it.  Now that you asked again, I will tell you.

You probably saw my updates of my training over the last few months, so were pretty much up to date until the day of the race.  It was one of the few sunny and very warm days we had so far this year, and I had been wishing that it would be cloudy and cool.  There were suppose to be 7 members on our team, and I only knew one of them; only 3 others showed up for the run.

Dave and Team Cpt. Doreen.  otice how clean I am.

My friend Bridget was coming to the race with her husband and three kids and hadn't arrived when I got there.  Thank goodness for cell phones, I was able to call the team captain and meet her.  The race started and the first thing we did was run up a 20 foot mound of loose dirt and then run down the other side, a few hundred meters further on we came to the first of about 6 walls we had to climb over.  My friend slipped as she was climbing over the wall and she hit the upright of the wall with her neck and got  a bruise or her neck, we call it a hickie or monkey bite here in the states, something young people give each other when they are "making out" or necking. (do you know these terms?)

I get down and dirty

The next obstacles were piles of old tires we had to climb over.  Then came pipes that were placed across a ditch and the first set we climbed over like hurdles, at the second set we were told to go under the first 4 and then roll through a deep puddle of muddy water, the three girls said no way and just climbed over the pipes and walked through the water.  I said, I'm her to experience the race so I did the obstacle as instructed and got soaked and muddy.

Then we ran for a few kilometers before we had to walk some balance beams, which I did so well I got a compliment from the person that was managing that obstacle.  We then had to climb some more "A" frame walls, these were like two ladders - climb up one and then down the other.

I will interrupt the story of the race course and remind you that my one goal was not to be the reason our team came in last.  I wasn't.  I was the oldest member of the team by 7 years and the least experienced runner as I had never run a race before.  I was not the slowest, but I did decide to keep the slowest runner company because I felt sorry for her because her friends left her behind for most of the race.

Our next obstacle was crawling through pipes and then more of those "A" frame walls.  We caught up to our team at the last obstacle because there was a line.  It was the big water slide you see behind me in the picture.  Once again the women decided not to get dirty and ran down the slide. me - well I ran and dove head first on the slide and was laughing so much that when I got to the bottom of the slide, I went into a big puddle of water and ended up getting some in my nose and mouth.  yech!  I lost my bib number when I hit the water, but didn't realize it until the end of the race. 

Almost to the finish line and there was a mud pit - mud and water about 2/3 of a meter deep.  I ran through that and as I was catching up with my teammates, I stepped on a rock and twisted my foot.  I went tumbling to the ground and the only thought that went through my head was, "Dang, I bounce good!"  Bridget told one of the people that we walk with on the ferry that I "fall and bounce very gracefully."

I wore an ankle brace for about 10 days but am o.k. now.

The race was FUN!  I really enjoyed it.  I was surprised when we were finished because it didn't seem like we had run 6 miles.  10K.  Our time was exactly 1 hr.

I am now training to run a 1/2 marathon in September and if I'm satisfied with my results, I will train to enter a full marathon in December in Las Vegas.  After that I think I will keep my running to dirt trails as it will be easier on my knees.

How are you doing?  I keep seeing little sentences saying that you are having work related Skype meetings.  I am assuming that means you have a job waiting for you?  Is it in France?  What is it and when will you be returning home?

You are still an inspiration to me and I love following your travels - you are one of those inspirational stories that people read and wish they had enough trust in life and the universe to do what you do.  you are a special spirit.

Take care, happy travels and wonderful experiences

A hot soak, a glass of wine, and Ibuprofen!

I am proud of myself tonight.  I think I may have done something I've never done in my life.  I ran 5 miles with 1 - 30 second stop to drink.  I took over 58 minutes to jog that distance, which make them almost 12-minute miles; BUT ... I RAN five miles.  A 10K is only (get this...only) 6.2 miles and I have until July 9th to reach that goal.  Last December I would not have believed this was possible.  It has only taken 8 weeks, and one of those weeks I did not run.

Why is this important to me and possibly others?  It shows that if we set a goal to do something, and get the right training or education for it, and we do not give up on that goal or ourselves, we have a good chance of achieving it.  It is funny, as soon as I wrote this paragraph; I remembered that I was talking to someone about this very subject this morning on my ferry ride to Seattle.

We were talking and I mentioned that I decided to learn to play the guitar and was taking the steps needed to do so.  I said that I had tried when I was younger but wasn't successful.  She asked why and I thought for a minute, said that when I picked up the guitar, I was not successful with it right away, and did not want to take the time needed to learn how to play, so I gave up on the idea.  It is (not) so strange that when I have conversations like that, my mind will churn away in the background and let me know many of the times I have given up on something I thought I wanted, because it was too hard.

That brings me back to my concept of Someday is Today, it is a way for me to think of things I have always wanted to do but was afraid to do, or too lazy to do, or too far outside my comfort zone to try, I can write it down and let my mind and the universe work on it and make it a possibility.  Part of my Someday is Today philosophy is to think of at least one crazy thing to do each year - and to find a way to do it.  Taking up running is this year's crazy thing.

Now off to draw my bath.

Last Tuesday I was running,

I have a running Ap on my Android phone and it times a 5 min warm-up walk and beeps at 2.5 minutes and again when I reached the end of the 5 minute period. The timer is suppose to time the specific run for that day, according to the program I was training with, and let me know when I reached the 1/2 way point so I could turn around and head back.  It worked well for the warm-up walk and then I started running.

I also wear a watch that has a stopwatch and heart monitor so I usually have a backup for the time I am running.  Well on Tuesday 5/17/2011 I ran and I passed the 1 mile point on my run.  At the 1.2 mile point I turned and started running up hill.  I ran and ran and thought boy this is taking a long time.  I came upon a woman with two large dogs and when she saw me she grabbed one and was putting a leash on him.  The other dog moved out into the trail, so I just ran in place until the woman could restrain him also (it was a welcome relief to not be moving uphill)  I then looked at my watch and noticed that I hadn't started the stop watch.  "grrrr" was all I could get out of my mouth - no air for anything else.  I then checked my phone and I still had about two minutes to run in the out bound direction, so I put my mind somewhere pleasant and looked at the trail about 9' in front of me and plodded on.  and on... and on ... and on.

Finally I came to a tree that had fallen across the trail and I clambered over it continued plodding up the hill - I took the phone out of my pocket thinking "these two minutes sure are lasting forever!"  I saw that I had been running for about 18 1/2 minutes.  I couldn't believe it - I hadn't heard the phone beep to have me turn around at 12.5 minutes.  I have to admit that I was pretty proud of myself - I had never ran so far up the hill before.  I decided that I would turn around and run down hill and I would run as long as I could before stopping.  At 36 minutes I decided perhaps I should stop before I hurt myself, as I had run 11 minutes longer than the training schedule called for and I didn't want to over do it and get to sore to run on Thursday.  I knew that I had run at least 3.1 miles - the length of a 5K.  I actually ran at least 3.5 miles that day - I measured it on Saturday, but forget the exact distance.

I always wished I could play a musical instrument

I always wished I could play a musical instrument ... Something other than a radio, CD player or MP3 player. Throughout my life, I have held some pretty limiting believes that have prevented my from trying and following through on many things in my life.  I was once told by a nun at the Catholic grade school that I couldn't sing, so I took that to mean I had no musical ability; I have probably held that belief for close to 50 years.

I remember once, as a teen, I bought a guitar and since I couldn't figure it out right away, I put it down or gave it away and knew I couldn't play.  I have decided that I would learn to play a guitar and so today I bought a beginners package and will put in time to learn how to play it.

I have ignored this blog for awhile....

and it is time I got back to it.  New dreams and goals are always available to me, and it is only right that I post them somewhere. 

The latest goal, or "crazy" thing for me in 2011 is training to run a 10K race. The Dirty Dash, you can watch a video at http://www.thedirtydash.com/ .

My training started not because of the 10K, but because a friend was considering starting a 5K race in Port Ludlow; in order to encourage her, I told her if she was successful, I would enter the race.  This was a stretch for me, as I had tried running in December of 2010, and I couldn't run 2 tenths of a mile, and I gave up.

Before I started training, my friend told me that she had entered a 10K race that it was going to be in the mud, she laughed and talked about how much fun it would be.  I smiled and said "Have fun."  A few weeks later after I had started training, she showed me a video of the race and I thought it would be a crazy fun thing to do.  I am now on her team, 5 women and two men.  I am the oldest by 6 years and probably the least experienced runner.  I am training and training hard - I have two goals.  1. To have fun and finish the race and 2. To not be the reason our team finishes last.

I am on my way to achieving those goals.

Being open to gifts from the universe

Someday is today is just part of my new philosophy on life.  Another aspect is being open to offerings from the universe.  When something interesting and maybe challenging, that in the past I would be scared to do, or rationalize away is presented to me, I now will look at it and be open to trying it.

Take for instance yesterday, out of the blue, this hike was mentioned to me, for the 2nd time in a month, Chemin de St-Jacques.  Coincidence?  The universe wanting to offer me a gift and an adventure?  This hike is in France and the mileage I hear most is 500 miles.  Seems impossible.  How can I do that?  That is pretty far away and in a place I don't know, can't speak the language, etc.

The first step is believing that I can do it.

The second is to gather more information about the trek.  Is it even in terrain that I would want to walk?  So here are some steps for me to take.

believe I can do it.  - I do

Talk to others that have done it.  I will start that process next Friday when the volunteer works again.  I will ask her to contact her friend to see if she would share information about the trip and her adventures.

Learn basic French.

Believe that the time and money will be available.  That means a four to five week time period.  I need to give up the idea that I need at least 1 weeks vacation in the bank and be willing to spend it.

There are four major routes for this trek, so I will need to research them to see which one I want to take.

I will need to take some long hikes over the next 10 or 11 months in order to be in shape.

Lots to do before then.  Lots of little somedays will be accomplished in this enterprise.