Up until last summer my only goal was to be able to do 5 and 10k races. \u00a0Our summer was hot last year, so by the end of July any serious running seemed like a distant memory. \u00a0But one evening I went out and did a 12k run and I surprised myself. \u00a0The first half of the run felt good, but the second half felt great. \u00a0In fact I only stopped because it was getting dark and rural roads and runners, even with reflective gear, are not a good mix. \u00a0I had done that distance a few times before, but each time it had only felt good when it was over, not while I was doing it. \u00a0Enjoying 12k was a new experience. \u00a0Suddenly 21.1k didn’t seem impossible. \u00a0Now, when you think about it, the logic in that math doesn’t really add up. \u00a0There is a significant difference between 12 and 21, but mentally that difference had decreased. \u00a0And ultimately, isn’t running more of a mental game than a physical one? \u00a0I finished that run with the idea that maybe I should look into taking the next step and try running a half.<\/p>\n
The race that looked best to try was the 9 Run Run in October. \u00a0I never, however, enter a race without looking at the previous year’s times. \u00a0I know I should just have faith in myself that I will complete the race, but the fact is I want to know that they won’t be telling me to finish on the sidewalk because they have to reopen the roads to traffic. \u00a0I shouldn’t care about that. \u00a0I love the saying that even if you are last in the race, you’re not really last because you beat all the people who are sitting on their couches at home. \u00a0For me though, I just need that security blanket of knowing there will be a group of people behind me so I can blend into the crowd. \u00a0I did end up doing the race, they did not kick me off the course and as mentioned in a previous blog I ran it in the same time as the race average. \u00a0I continued my training to do another half in November, this one on a local golf course. \u00a0Not being a golfer, I have to admit I didn’t quite realize how many rolling hills a golf course could have. \u00a0Imagine running on a kiddie roller coaster for just over two hours and you get the picture. \u00a0But even a hilly course did not deter me and I knew that half marathons were the distance I wanted to run.<\/p>\n
In December I learned I had made it into the NYC Half. \u00a0I would love to say \u00a0I got in by qualifying, but my P.B. would only qualify me if I was collecting Old Age Security. \u00a0I needed to trust luck in a lottery to enter this one. \u00a0So a new season of running began and I decided I needed to take a look at my training. \u00a0I am a little linear in my way of thinking. \u00a0I seem to have defied that stereotypical image of women who can successfully multitask. \u00a0The fact is, I can’t cook and talk to my kids, I can’t talk on a phone and type, heck, I can barely fold laundry and watch t.v. at the same time. \u00a0As a result, the only thing I could think about when training last fall was running a distance that would prepare me for 21.1k. \u00a0Core training, yoga for runners, visiting a gym, none of these were even in my thoughts. \u00a0All I could focus on was making sure I would be able to keep running when I needed to. \u00a0Logically I knew all those other things would help me reach my goal, but mentally I just couldn’t think about them.<\/p>\n
So this season I am looking at a more rounded training program. \u00a0A friend introduced me to yin yoga. \u00a0My only previous experiences with yoga were a couple of classes in my twenties when several senior citizens proved to be significantly more flexible than me. \u00a0I figured the odds of me having become more flexible in the last two decades were slim to none. \u00a0As a result, yoga just seemed too intimidating to try. \u00a0But within 15 minutes of yin yoga I realized I should have made it part of my training from day one. \u00a0Yin yoga is a runner’s friend and it is everything running isn’t. \u00a0It is slow and it stretches muscles that the demands of running make tight. \u00a0The slow pace allows even an inflexible body like mine to find its place in the pose and feel comfortable, as if it is the position your body has been waiting to go into all day. \u00a0Now I can’t even imagine myself not doing this once a week and if I could carve out a little more time I would do it more often. \u00a0Proof positive that while focus may be good, thinking in too linear of a way can lead you to miss out on wonderful opportunities.<\/p>\n
Next time…the joys of boot camp!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Up until last summer my only goal was to be able to do 5 and 10k races. \u00a0Our summer was hot last year, so by the end of July any serious running seemed like a distant memory. \u00a0But one evening I went out and did a 12k run and I surprised myself. \u00a0The first half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-running"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s3amQ2-53","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raz-family.ca\/RunKristi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}