I was a Dasher Dasher....

Earlier this month I ran in my first 5k at the 21st Annual Jingle Bell Run in Downtown Seattle in the Dasher Dashers category.

I wanted to have a "race day" experience because it made me kind of nervous. So early on a COLD Sunday morning, Bob and I headed down to Westlake Center to join 10,000 other people for this event. It was very festive (they even gave out jingle bells) with people in costume and everything.

Race-wise it was a total madhouse. I don't think I started running for about 2-3 minutes because the starting area was so thick with people. And at times I felt that I wanted to run faster (may have been deluding myself) but couldn't because of how close together people were. That was particularly apt, I thought, during the section we were on the I-5 express lanes.

I don't think I got a valid sense of time (it took me 36 minutes) but it was way fun to run towards a finish line.

Afterwards we celebrated by having doughnuts at Top Pot in Capital Hill. Sounds like a great race day tradition to me.....

The Marathon MP3 Soundtrack (or, "Bob's the Best")

Another strategy of mine was to buy an MP3 player for working out. I have a Dell "DJ" and I love it!

In addition to 90 or so songs of my own, Bob gave me over 200 working out songs. From ZZ Top ("She's Got Legs") to Bruce Springsteen ("Born to Run"), there is something in every workout that makes me laugh or kicks my running up a notch. "Walkie Talkie Man" by Steriogram is a pure shot of adrenaline.

If you are interested in the playlist, I'll attach it as a "comment" to this post. Please suggest other titles I should add!

What do you know?

I'm liking it!

So after all that serious thinking I still had to face the fact it didn't mean nothing if I didn't start to run. It's a lot more glamorous to think about being a runner than to say, go run three miles.

I jogged a couple times on old shoes and knew I needed to invest in new ones. At the same time I found a great pair of running pants--destiny!

I also met with Carliss at my YMCA to get schooled again in weightlifting in order to begin getting stronger. I've found that cardio and weightlifting done together are what actually changes my body.

It was hard at first. In fact, I started by running 5 minutes, walking 2 minutes, running 5 and so on until it added up to 25 minutes. Then I ran 7, walked 2 until it added up to 30 minutes. Then I ran 9 and walked 1. Then I ran 15 and walked 1. Finally I was ready to just run for 30 minutes. Over the weeks I've built up to where I can run comfortably for 40 minutes.

My biggest surprise has been how much fun it's been to run with Maya (my australian shepherd). It took us a little time to figure it out. I couldn't have her off-leash when we ran because it was too much work to know where she was all the time (I like to run with music so I couldn't hear her). I thought she'd hate being on a leash for 30 minutes. But it's actually worked out great - I think she just likes going along. I love having her because it feels like added security (I pay attention to what she pays attention to and usually know if someone is approaching from a direction I haven't seen) and because she likes to run faster than I do. It's a little added motivation. It's annoying how much easier it is for her though.

I've been able, except when sick, to manage about three runs/workouts a week. I'm pretty proud of that. And I can't wait for the days to get longer - it can be hard to squeeze in that run after work before it gets dark.

In the beginning.....

It won't be fair....but in trying times I'm going to blame Bob (the boyfriend). Not that anyone can make anyone else run a marathon. In fact, it's always been on my "list of things to do in life" along with "swim with dolphins" and "build a house". And Bob and I had talked about it before in just that way. But then Bob turned to me one day and said, "would you really? run a marathon? San Diego has the Rock 'n' Roll marathon in June." I have no memory of what I said to him at that moment but the inner dialogue had begun.

Would I run a marathon? Could I really get it together enough physically and mentally to do that? How would I begin to think about running a marathon? I've never done anything that physical in my life and can be a bit fair-weather about the whole exercising thing, to be honest. I knew that I would need to scaffold such a goal or it would never seem manageable. I made the predictable pro-con list. Pros - I had plenty of time to get ready - I was in probably the worst shape of my life and pretty motivated to do something about it - it would be an incredible to thing to accomplish (and with Bob if he did it too) - I only had to run one once. Cons - it's running a crazy 26.2 miles (duh!) - I've never been great at staying with fitness goals - it would become my life for awhile when training got intense.

And the more I thought about it, the less crazy it seemed. So I started thinking about the scaffolding.
1) I became familiar with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. They train and coach you into being ready to run a marathon - pay your entry and travel expenses. In exchange, you fundraise four times the money they spend on you ($.25 goes to helping me, $.75 goes to research, support and services to people with Leukemia and Lymphoma). On the selfish side, I knew that the structure of a program like that would be what could move me from a 3-mile jogger into a long-distance race participant. On the less selfish side, I loved the idea of combining my own personal life goal with a bigger cause - making two things happen and having a way to give back. The fundraising is intimidating, I will admit.
2) Secondly, I started talking about it as a goal to "put it out there". People have been incredibly supportive. I also wanted to see who else might be interested thinking "the more the merrier". My friend Pete is interested and started running again and working out.
3) I would still have the short-term fitness goals to keep me going.
4) Since the training for Team in Training wouldn't begin until the new year, I had all Fall to simply become a runner/jogger again and make exercise part of the routine.