Setting the best example I can...

My best advice to an injured runner has always been this...don't run if it's hurting you.

I'm taking my blinders off now. I'm owning my injuredness. I will not be racing this weekend. No real boo-hoos about it. It's the right and best and most comfortable decision. I feel renewed now that I've made it. And deciding to switch from the Oakland Running Festival half-marathon in March to the 5K (or maybe nothing) added hugely to my sense of relief and reinvigoration.

What led me to this place? Have I been hurting more lately? What gives, XL?

Feeling as busted up as my favorite shades...

thanks, G and Miss C :P

Here's the deal...

I started running again a little over two years ago. I stepped things up too fast. My right hip was always in a state of crisis...hanging on from run to run. There would be good times and rough times, but it never really felt strong and solid and good. Part of me believed that this was as good as it was going to get. Just take what I can. Live with the discomfort.

That all changed when I started seeing a new body work person last month. And a new trainer...also last month. Their work is showing me that I can possibly someday be pain-free. Truly pain-free. So that is my goal. There is no time goal attached to it. There is not a deadline by which it must be achieved. When I can hop on my right foot repeatedly without wincing or crumpling in pain, we'll know we're there :) I'm not hurting more lately. In fact, it's the opposite. But it does hurt. Running isn't going to make it better, and I now feel like I have a real path to wellness. And I will endeavor to follow it without wavering. Keeping my eye on the feel-good prize.

As a runner with a blog, this is the best example I can set, and as a mom as well. Listening to and hearing my body. Taking good care of myself. Being honest with myself. Making the hard decisions.

So here's what I'm doing instead...

I'm still on the elliptical and riding my bike. I'm lifting weights and doing some circuit strength stuff.

And I'm walking around with my family and enjoying our beautiful weather in our beautiful part of the country...

...and

learning that 

not every puzzle

can be solved...

...and that's okay.

I'm looking at reflections on top of shadows

and seeing my little people

through eyes that are not clouded with pain.

At all.

For the first time in a long, long time.

Whatever happens, 

I know it will all be worth the wait. 

Race Optimism and Goals

Just a quick post about what I'm looking at and what I'm wanting in terms of races this year. Entry fees have been paid, but who knows if I'll make it to starting lines. Looking forward with Optimism, as I said in my post the other day, I'm operating as if :)

Kaiser 5K February 3...I ran this for the first time last year when I was struggling in so many ways and still managed to run it at an 8:15 average pace (the course is officially longer than 5K so that's how I like to gauge my performance at this race). This year I'm struggling less. I'd like to finish it with the speed I had in my 5K in November...7:30 average pace. My training plan is structured as if this is going to happen.

Last year looking like Stone-cold Steve Austin

Oakland Running Festival half-marathon March 24...I've only run the relay, both last year and the year before. This year all of my relay teammates decided to try the half. I was kind of annoyed because I like routine...and running less. Running Leg 2 of the Oakland Marathon had become part of my March routine...amazing how doing something twice makes it feel like 'routine.' Anyway...I said, FINE. Half-marathon... whatEVER .... Goal on this one...start healthy and finish happy. I give myself full permission to shamelessly not start. And in the event that I start and things go sour, I will unabashedly not finish. But in the vein of Optimism, I'm operating as if it will all be sunshine and roses :)

Leg 2 of the 2012 Oakland Marathon Relay

Bay to Breakers May 19...I've run this one three times, last year,  the year before and back in 1994. Seeing the naked people is not a highlight for me (click the links if you want to see naked B2B people). My favorite part of the race is, surprisingly...or perhaps in my case, not surprisingly, Hayes Street Hill. Overall, this race gave me a hard time all three years, and with the gleam of Optimism in my eyes, I look forward to me giving it a hard time this year :)

O, the irony of this parting gift...

Sonoma 5K Turkey Trot November 28...my yearly return-to-running barometer, I ran this one last year and the year before and the year before that. Since the fall of 2010, I've improved my 5K time by 5 minutes and 40 seconds. This year I'd like to set a real 5K PR by knocking another 2 minutes off my time from 2012. If I can stave off bloggermarathonhighmileagemania, I have confidence that I can stay healthy enough to at least come close. Am I the only blogger who has a 5K for her 'A' race this year?

First woman...yeah, I won. Go figure.

I'm looking at a few others, among them the San Francisco Second Half, but I'm curious about how things will pan out with the first three listed above before committing.

And there's always Hood to Coast in late August...I'm planning my Nuun team application already ;-)

I'd love to hear about your race plans and goals for 2013 in a comment below!

We're getting down and dirty this year.

So... bring it, 2013. 

I am ready.

Today began my training for the Oakland Running Festival half-marathon. I think announced some day several days ago as the beginning, but that turned out to be a lie. And this was my first run since Jingle Bell Hell three weeks ago, so yeah...start of the training cycle. 

Who knows if I'll make it to race day, but I'm operating as if. The power of positive thinking :)

This morning I was lolling about in bed, thinking about running but being completely non-committal about when... which was not really working for my husband. He's smart. He knew that my non-committal-ness was not a good sign. And he had agreed to help keep me 'on task' with regard to working out for the next few months. Yay, husband :) So he got to work...

We are going to go to the park this afternoon as a family...and you will run your favorite loop while the kids and I go for a hike.

Statement of fact. Not a question. Boom. 

This afternoon we went to the park as a family...and I ran my favorite loop while he and the kids went for a hike.

I was greeted by this...

Running in frosting...with puddles.

I slipped and fell...

...on my ass.

But I'm A-okay.

Inverted giraffe again. 

All that white is reflected light off of water, which means mud.

Do we need any more pictures of mud?

I have more if we do.

So all of that to write a post about a slow little 3.5-mile run. But it was the first run of 2013 and a training cycle. But since I was smiling the whole time (for real) even in the mud and even when I fell on my butt, I'm taking it as a sign...an auspicious sign:

I'm going to have a happy new year...for the whole year. Even if I wind up dirty and on my ass...it will be with a happy smile on my face, mark my words.

Marathon relay? Tomorrow? Me?!!

Ummmmm......

Okay!  :)

A friend called me this morning.  One of my pack of running friends... we are a pack, like wolves... a pack of ... I don't know how many 'cuz I think I am the Lone Wolf.

I know some of my friends run, but I don't always know which ones run. We don't talk about running... ever. I know they run because I will occasionally see a Facebook update about how one of them just finished an awesome 8-miler (the same route I had done the day before... alone) or how one of them has been training for a half-marathon and is getting on a plane in the morning to go to the race.

I always leave a comment. Something like, "Hey! I ran that this weekend, too! Want to buddy up next weekend?" or "Awesome! Hope it goes well! Let me know if you ever want to go running together when you get back in town :)" They always reply along the lines of, "Yeeaaaahhhhh..... okay....." And I continue my loopy-doo figure-eightyeights inside The Gate... in the dark... alone.

Until someone drops out of a relay team.

And I get the call.

They all know I am running now because since last October I have been ramming down their throats posting links to my blog on Facebook. I am not sure if they think I am laughable or intimidating :P But maybe my beginning cross-training has signaled a certain je ne sais quoi ... indicating a level of seriousness heretofore unmentioned or alluded to leads to these kinds of calls.

"Hey, XL... what're you doing tomorrow?'
"Hi, Y! I don't have any plans... what's up?"
"Want to run in the Oakland Marathon Relay tomorrow? Our second leg just dropped out on us."
"OOOoooooo (squeal of delight)! Sure! How far?"
"Between 5 and 6 miles... we have everything... the hand-off is at Temescal... you know where that is?"

I know where it is and am remembering checking out this race about 2 weeks ago as a possible "training run" as there is also a 10K and a half as part of this Oakland Running Festival. And I am realizing that the leg they want me to take is ... ummmm... well, killer.  And not in a "ooooo, killer dress, doll!" sort of way.
Check out this hump... That'll be me.
No wonder their second leg dropped out :P


Would you jump into a race like this... even if were against the rules?