Ever heard of runner’s diarrhea? You laugh, but it’s real, especially for Gutsy runners.
[Read more…] about Runner’s Diarrhea {and 10 tips for runners with IBS or IBD}
Mile One
In running, and in life, mile one is always the hardest.
In high school, I joined the track team for one season. Because I had no endurance and was an awful runner, I thought I’d “just run” sprints, the 50 or 100 and/or be on relay teams where I’d run no more than a 200.
I wasn’t good, at all, not even a little bit. In fact, towards the end of the season, I thought I’d try a new part of track and compete in the shot put. I’m laughing as I write that. I mean, can you even imagine me doing the shot put? It basically just got worse and worse, and then my track days were over.
I ran about a 12-14 minute mile in high school, and because the mile was so hard for me, I thought I’d never be a runner. I couldn’t sprint, and I also couldn’t do the mile (aka a “long run” for me back then).
I almost quit running altogether. Surely I was not cut out for it.
But then in 2008-ish, I picked it up again. At that time, it was merely just to “lose weight” for my wedding. Nevertheless, I became hooked on running.
And in 2009, as some of you who have read my blog since the beginning, I became a Nike Human Race Ambassador. I lead a worldwide virtual team of over 1,000 people to run a 10k virtually with me in October of 2009. All the while, I had been training for my first half marathon, and this 10K.
My friends who knew me back when always joked that I used to run “like an elephant,” and was the last person they would ever think to be a runner.
But here I am, years later, and I am still a runner, still hooked on it.
Mile One
These past two weeks with getting back into my running groove have reminded me about mile one.
Even at the peak of my running physical fitness, mile one was always hard. Mile two was not much easier, but by the time I hit mile three, four, five and six, I had finally found my stride.
Yesterday on my 5-mile “long run” (” = because that’s not even long), I thought I might die for the entire first mile. All I kept thinking was, “Is this the day when I start hating running?” But then, like clockwork, I looked down at my watch to see mile 1.40 hit, and in that moment I realized I was back to a 3-3 or 3-2 breathing pattern.
And every single time I run, my splits show it. (The below splits are from my run yesterday. Make note that it stops at 3.9 miles. It was abrupt, and I was super grumpy. My phone still had 50% battery life but turned off and wouldn’t turn on again. And with that, I immediately ordered my new White Garmin Forerunner 35 Watch. Should be here tomorrow!)
The longer I run, the easier it gets. My goal was to stay about a 9-minute mile yesterday (or about 1 minute more than my ultimate race pace). Somehow, my body goes on autopilot and just picks up speed. (Side note: I can’t wait until I’ve trained long enough in 2017 to see that 9-minute marker even greatly reduce!)
Like Life
I’ve been thinking about this concept a lot during this past week.
I always thought I’d never be able to do anything but sprint because I never got past the parts that were painful. In other words, up until just several years ago, I didn’t allow myself to go past mile one because it was just “too hard.”
Turns out, I’m not made for really anything less than 1.4 miles.
It has taken me almost 34 years to realize this.
I think about running so much like life because the parallels are always there.
How often do we quit too early? How often do we “tire” before we have reaped the real benefits?
We go and go and go because we believe it will be worth it, but for those things that are truly worth it, sometimes we never even get the chance to see them come to fruition.
We give up just shy of where the comfort zone begins.
Motherhood even shares so much of what I’m learning by making it to mile 1.40. Like mile one, the struggle is real, but thinking it’s going to be like that for all 13.1 (or 26.2!) is not reality.
In running, like life, it just might take awhile to find the right stride…..the one where we are soaring vs. struggling.
The key is just to make it past mile one.
Xox,
SKH
The Blind Spot
There is a point I reach on my running route when I turn a really sharp corner. On that corner, there is a huge bush. It’s so huge that as I’m turning the corner, I am not able to see what’s on the other side of the turn. In other words, the bush is the blind spot.
The Blind Spot
So each time I am about to make the turn, I have to think to myself….Do I just go straight to avoid the possibility of accidentally running into someone on the other side of the bush, or do I just take the turn, keep running and act on it in the moment should I need to?
I headed out first thing Monday morning to run. It was cold, and slightly raining. I am still getting over a nasty cold. And finally, I am mid-cycle which, for me, always makes for an uncertain run.
I ran that same route I always do. Only this time, I realized something as I rounded the blind side corner.
Running, as a physical act and activity I love, no longer contains a blind spot.
The Blind Spot
I am heading into setting new goals, motivations, and desires knowing that and where the blind spot exists. (Spoiler alert: It’s that I have 3 children all 3 and under, SIBO, Colitis, low functioning free T3, and an unexplained awful Mittelschmerz.)
But like my decision to always just take the turn and act on it should a person be there in that moment, I am completely and 100% going for running again.
Do you remember in my almost Thanksgiving update when I said,
I have reset fitness and physical goals because I can. I am saying “yes” to new things, people, and activities because I can. And I have set this vision for 2017 around being unafraid.
This is part of it.
I got done with that Monday run and posted this on Instagram.
The truth is that I got so tired of listening to the drag (from other people and myself) that has invited fear to every single thing in my life .
During these past few years (basically since 2009), each time a health issue has arrived, someone somehow led me to believe that it was something I was physically doing or eating or the way I am. Consequently, little-by-little, I quit running altogether.
Heck, on so many levels, I quit living all together. (I do have an entire post devoted to fear coming before year’s end, but this is about running.)
I am not blinded to the fact that running – especially long distance running – can pose problems for “normal” people, much less the people like me, like you. My spoiler alert makes it very clear that I understand my circumstances. (For the record, I’ve already learned several ways to work with my circumstances vs. battling against them. Read: Running with Colitis.)
But I can run. My legs work. My entire body works. Each time I run, even when it feels less than optimal, I think…..because I can. Our minds always prove greater than our circumstances. I have felt it and witnessed it time and time again.
If there is one thing I am learning about health, wellness, and general healing it’s that fear, not anything else, is the one thing that will keep you sick and miserable forever.
Fear, not anything else, will keep you sick and miserable forever.
Conversely, staying active, being optimistic, setting goals, finding new inspiration, crushing dreams – those are the things that keep us alive, living in the moment, and able to make it through anything.
I can’t wait to tell you about some of the things I’m doing (from a running standpoint) in 2017. I’m still finalizing my schedule, but I’ll lay it all out here because I do believe that this, too, is all a part of Gravel Roads.
If I gave into the dust and the fears, I’d find those roads long, harsh and ugly forever.
But I don’t.
Gravel Roads are really beautiful.
Believe it. (And for the record, when people tell you that you can’t, don’t respond. Just do.)
p.s. Running friends…..Best half and full marathons you’ve ever done? Favorite running shoes for flat feet? Best running playlists? Garmin or Polar? Ahhhhh…….
Xox,
SKH
Too Tired to Workout
I have been trying to fit a circle into a square peg for a very long time, but now I am just too tired to workout.
The Rules of Running
I hate running. I love running. I loathe running. I adore running. I won’t run. I can’t run. I don’t like to run. I shouldn’t run. The rules of running, rules that both society places and I placed upon myself, are rules I’m throwing out the window.
(Then again, I’m learning to throw many rules out the window, but that’s a topic for another day.)
Are you catching my drift? I have a very manic relationship with running, plain and simple.
During my first real run in several months last weekend I realized why I have this manic relationship with running. The answer, like the fact that it’s manic, is plain and simple.
I have listened to far too many people for far too long about their thoughts, ideas, and opinions about running. knee compression sleeve benefits include the ability to exercise with less pain. Knee sleeves are one of the supports I recommend for an active lifestyle, so you can get out of the cycle of pain, lose weight, and further reduce the load on your joints.
The Rules of Running
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- Running makes you lose your monthly cycle.
- Running made me infertile.
- Running is horrible for adrenal fatigue.
- Running makes you lose muscle.
- Running takes up too much time.
- Running is bad for your joints.
- Running gave me horrific cramps.
- Running is horrible for autoimmune conditions.
- Running makes SIBO relapse.
What I have learned is that all of that is true, and none of that is true, but the truth that dominates both is when I look at the big picture. Running (over the past several years) has brought more to my life than has taken away. And all the “problems” that came along with it (either physically or theoretically) I had full control over.
- Running didn’t make me lose my cycle. Running while under fueled (aka starving) did.
- Running didn’t make me infertile. A series of life events, bad choices and even perfect plans did.
- Running is horrible for adrenal fatigue when you don’t listen to the bodies signals which say, “I’m tired. No running today. I’m tired. Sleep.“
- I do believe running can make you lose muscle. But is that the only (and best) measure of fitness success in life? Where I could once run for miles and miles and barely feel tired, I am now running for 3 minutes and feel it in my lungs. I’m willing to sacrifice a little muscle for overall health and fitness and being in the kind of shape where I can easily run around with my children.
- Running only takes as much time as we dedicate to it. I enjoy working out, period. If that means running, swimming or lifting for that allotted time, then the activity doesn’t really matter.
- Lifting also proved to be hard on my joints.
- Running on certain days of the month gives me horrible cramps, and because I have been tracking it for so long now, I know exactly how to workout with vs. against my cycle. (Also, for the record, running is not the only thing that produces those cramps. It is anything super intense, so for me, lifting created the same problems.)
- A lot of things are horrible for autoimmune conditions, and if you want the truth…..I’m tired of living my life afraid of doing and eating everything “I shouldn’t be” in the name of a one-way path towards healing.
- I used to believe running would make my SIBO relapse, but then I relapsed after barely working out at all for several months. I am learning my triggers, and I am confident my workouts are not a major factor. In fact, I argue that I need more running for the motility issues and to help with keeping stress at bay (two of my main SIBO contributors).
So back to the rules of running.
As I already mentioned: I hate running. I love running. I loathe running. I adore running. I won’t run. I can’t run. I don’t like to run. I shouldn’t run.
But with all of these manic thoughts and relationships about/with running, there is one thing I know for absolute certainty….running makes me feel alive, inspired and allows me to live a more creative life during all other 22-23.75 hours of the day.
There is something about running that I return to time-and-time again.
And even with all the rules of running, I can’t let go.
Xox,
SKH
101 Days with No Cardio
It’s 5:30 am. The San Diego Rock ‘n Roll 1/2 Marathon begins in an hour. I’m not going, and instead, I sit here in our hotel, blogging in silence with just a cup of coffee and thoughts around 101 days with no cardio.