Wife Mother Runner @sbsontherun Archives - Page 2 of 2

What’s Wrong With Me?

April 1, 2015

So lately my runs have not been very impressive. My speed is horrible; but I am also battling an injury. I think I sprained my ankle while playing in the snow with my kids in February. I have a half marathon in two weeks that I really want to get under my belt. But my energy level just hasn’t been what it usually is. What’s wrong with me??

I know when I am injured it slows me down but I always push through it regardless of the pain. I find ways to get around it. I am using KT tape now to keep it together while it heals and I even took time off of running and just walked on the treadmill most days of the week and I know that when I do run it’ll hurt that night and maybe the next day. But there is improvement.

But my oomph is missing. When it’s a running day for me and my alarm goes off at 6 I usually get right up and go. Not these past few weeks. I’m hitting snooze and dragging. I crave sleep more than I desire to go out for a run. Is it the fact that winter JUST won’t let go for us? The days are still cold? I can’t quite put my finger on it. In the summer I would go out on the weekends early so I could do my runs and long runs before it is too hot and also before the family was up so that it was done and we had the day ahead of us. I don’t have that desire to just get up and go lately. But I love running and my time alone. I just love my cozy bed more. Do I just have to suck it up and get my ass up and go or is there something more going on? I am happy that the sun is out now earlier again so I can get up at 6 and go out rather than just go downstairs to the treadmill. But it’s still easier for me to hit snooze and wait. Maybe I just need to put the effort in and FORCE myself to get up and out and make it a pattern/habit again and then my energy level will increase and I will get that focus back.

But I am also seeing it in my worklife. My brain has been so foggy lately! Heidi told me to click somewhere the other day and I swear she saw the hamsters in my brain trying to spin the wheel to tell my fingers to click the mouse and click on the menu item. It was so strange! It was like my engine was not firing all cylinders! Is it cabin fever? Do I just need a break? I don’t feel like I need a break. I feel like I need a boost!

This blog post is regarding women’s issues and may have some TMI so if you aren’t into that, you can stop reading now. I just turned 43 this week. I think my body is changing – I know my body is changing. I think I am approaching the perimenopausal age. Things are different than they used to be and I think my energy level may be related to the time of the month and also what happens during that time might be causing my iron to drop. Let’s just say that what used to last just a few days is lasting more than a few days and the volume has increased. Hopefully this cryptic message made sense.

I also did a leg workout on Sunday that made my legs so sore I could barely walk up stairs for two days. So I am wondering if that is why my legs felt like they were 100 pounds each today on my run. I enjoyed the workout and didn’t mind doing it at all. It felt good to do something different and my goal is to cross train more and do more strength training so that my leg muscles will be stronger and I will avoid injury over the marathon training weeks in the late summer and fall.

I know I need to get to my doctor and I will. I am keeping notes of these changes that are occurring in my body, but wonder if it is normal for someone my age. My mom had fibroid tumors and had a hysterectomy at a young age. The fact that she had fibroids is where my concern is and I will express that concern to my doctor.

So what is going on with me? Do I just have Spring Fever and need the good warm sunshine to perk me up? Am I in a running funk? The reason why I didn’t register for the Providence marathon this spring was because I didn’t want to commit myself to spring training for a marathon since I just got off of fall training for two within two months of each other and I wanted to give my body a break. I also wanted to focus on doing some half marathons this spring to help get some better finish times; but now they are going to be more about surviving and getting them done rather than getting a PR because my leg won’t heal.

Have you ever gone through this? Is it happening to us New Englanders because we had so much snow and cold this winter and we are DYING for Spring to come? Please share!

The Another Mother Runner Meet Up and Book Signing

March 24, 2015

Thursday, March 12 was an event on my calendar I was looking forward to. Dimity and Sarah were going to be at Fleet Feet in West Hartford and I was going to meet up with Kimberly Markey and her best friend Nicole, Kimberlee Dziezynski, and Anne Martin for dinner beforehand.

I had a blast! It was great to see the girls outside of a race or on a plane! We ate at Bricco in West Hartford. The food was delicious and it was good to catch up with everyone! Then, we walked to Fleet Feet.

There were a lot of women there and lots of activities to fill some time prior to the book readings. I enjoyed the activity to get the names of two women there and the latest race distance they ran. While doing this I got to meet two great women from CT One of them did the women’s triathlon last September that I was aiming to do last year but chose to sit out. We talked and she told me all about the race and that it is not intimidating. She opened my eyes to consider the idea of doing the tri again this year, but right now it’s not in my heart to do so. But it was great to network with other and to talk about things that scare us.

Our activities to complete while we mingled

Also while we mingled and waited for the readings we had to visit the merchandise table and the sponsor’s table and identify an item that we would like to own. At the Saucony table I saw a few items that caught my eye. The hipster pouch was something I was interested in, as well as the capri pants they had.

After mingling we sat down to listen to the readings from Dimity, Nicole Blades and Alison Overholt. I heard their essays before on previous episodes of Another Mother Runner podcasts; but it was nice to hear them reading their essays in person. In between readings, Sarah and Dimity did raffle prizes for the items on the Sponsor table. Unfortunately I was not a winner. But I had a great time! After the event was over, I had both Sarah and Dimity sign my book and I hung around to chat with them and the other essayists, Nicole and Alison. They are awesome and I hope to see them again at future events.

Alison reading her essay

Sarah (a two-time BQ qualifier) and me

me and Dimity (an Iron Woman)

If you haven’t checked out their books or podcast already, visit their website and listen now! They also gave us a swag bag at the end of the night filled with all of these great products! Thank you to Nuun, RedFox Wireless, SofSole, Gu, Hylands, Runner’s High, Action Wipes, Heart Strides, and Trigger Point for contributing the Sarah and Dimity’s swag bag.

Our swag bag goodies

After the event was over we mingled some more, took pictures and had Sarah and Dimity sign our books and I did some shopping at the Another Mother Runner merchandise table. One of my favorite sweatshrts is my Philly Mother Runner sweatshirt so I HAD to pick up their badass mother runner sweatshirt! They are so soft and comfy. I also picked up an Another Mother Runner soft baseball shirt.

It was such a great night and I know that it was a chance to see them for a book reading that may not happen again for a long time. The next chance I may get to see them is at Wine & Dine in Disney in November. They mentioned that they may attend that race, but if they are at a local race again like Philly then I will be sure to stop by their booth. I keep tabs on where they are from their web site and their pod casts. It was great to see them again and I had a great time hanging with the girls for the night! Thank you Sarah and Dimity!

Gratitude Journals

March 10, 2015

While listening to one of my favorite pod casts, Another Mother Runner, Dimity and Sarah were talking with Kristin Armstrong. This was a great episode! I really enjoyed this episode because of something Kristin said she participates in every day. Oprah talked about this on her show once and I always thought it was a “nice” idea but I never participated in it. I would mentally take note of things I am grateful for, but I’m going to take a stab at it and try to maintain a Gratitude journal for a month. This can part another new good habit I can take part in during the month of March (my birthday month) as I approach a new year in my life.

When I was outside taking the kids to wait for the bus the sun was shining. It seemed brighter, like Spring really was making its appearance in our part of the world despite the mountains of snow we are still trapped under. But as we were outside I purposely chose not to put on a coat. I heard the birds singing and thought to myself that I was really grateful to hear those birds again. I even told my husband that I am surprised that we don’t hear those sweet songs at all during the winter months. They really do disappear for a period of time and I greatly miss them.

It occurred to me to write that in my gratitude journal. As I thought about it, I was also grateful that I didn’t have to wear a coat. It wasn’t balmy out, but it sure was a lot better than the 12-15 degrees that we were facing throughout most of January and February. I was also grateful that we were pounding a stick into the snow pile to measure how much snow is going to MELT during the week rather than measuring how much we are getting! That’s a nice sign. I am grateful for puddles. It means the snow is melting and soon the daffodils may hopefully poke their heads out of the snowy ground and the grass will begin to be visible again.

I am also grateful for all of the things I was able to learn today. I learn something new every day and I am grateful for my hunger to absorb new information and to try new things. I love to learn. I hope to keep up this habit, if not on paper, then I hope that I take a quiet moment to myself each day to reflect on what it is I should be grateful for and to look for things that are positive rather than to dwell on things that are not.

I am grateful that I get to see Sarah and Dimity on Thursday night!

I am grateful that I had a new episode to listen to.

I am grateful that when I go to be tonight I have more pages of the Tales from Another Mother Runner book to read.

I am grateful that I can sleep in a little tomorrow and run outside.

…See it’s not so hard!

Another Mother Runner Meetup is this week!

March 9, 2015

I am so excited! I have something to look forward to in helping me get through this week! Dimity and Sarah will be at Fleet Feet this Thursday night to celebrate their release of their new book Tales From Another Mother Runner. I already purchased a hard copy of the book in addition to my kindle edition so I can have Dimity and Sarah sign it.

I have met Dimity a few times. I met her last year at the Animal Kingdom Lodge during thePrincess Half Marathon weekend. Then again last November in Philadelphia during the marathon weekend. I visited the AMR booth and Dimity signed my bib and then during the race course she posed with me while cheering on Sarah and her cadet.

I’m looking forward to seeing both Dimity and Sarah together and hearing what they have to share at their event! They also have swag bags and fun stuff!

I am also meeting my fellow runner friends, Kim and her best friend Nicole, Kimberlee, who I met on the flight home from Disneyland 2 years ago and Anne who lives up the road from me, for dinner before the event. That’s guaranteed to be fun!

For more information on other locations they will be check out their website http://www.anothermotherrunner.com

Stay tuned for my follow up!

Dopey Training Update

December 7, 2014

As we are partly into December and a month away from flying into Orlando for the Dopey challenge, I wanted to give an update on my training. I just got back from my Sunday morning run (one of my favorite parts of my week/weekend). It was a VERY rainy day Saturday so I was hoping that rain would push away overnight and Sunday would be clear. My alarm went off at 7:00 and I peeked out the window to see everything wet and cloudy but no more rain drops were dancing on the pool cover. I got up, had my tea, got dressed and hit the road. Six miles were on the schedule today and I had the latest pod cast on my ipod from Another Mother Runner which was about the Philadelphia marathon (which I had just run 2 weeks ago), so I had something to look forward to listening to on my run. All bundled up, I hit the road SLOWLY today. I start off walking some of my hill and then began my running intervals.

I headed up to the vineyard and it was peaceful and beautiful. It was a very wind morning so on the hilltop I was getting blasted. But it was still wonderful. At the vineyard I totaled up to 3 miles so I headed back home for the remaining 3 so I could wake up the family and get ready for breakfast with them. On the return trip home I finished my podcast and then switched to music which gave me an energy boost and I had a productive 2 miles return trip home. As I was running home I was thinking of how thankful I am that this year I didn’t need to go to physical therapy for any issues and that I was remaining strong and healthy for this training and also keeping focused. Despite a little burnout during the Philadelphia marathon, I am on the right path to successfully complete my first Dopey challenge and I am happy about that. I have one more group of training runs in the next two weeks which will contain most of the miles that the Dopey challenge will be; but I am making slight modifications based on what I decided after Phillly. I don’t want to do to the full 26 mile training run and then the full marathon at Dopey, that would be 3 marathons withing a 6 week time period and mentally that would just be too much for me. So my plan is to do 20 miles on my last long training run and then the marathon during the Dopey challenge.

So good reports overall and I am happy with my progress.

Philadelphia Marathon – City of Motherly Love

November 23, 2014

My race reports lately are happening in order of most recent to older. I apologize for that; however, it is easier for me to write about today’s race since I am taking multiple trains home with some time to spare. To begin I took a train from the Wallingford station on Saturday morning. The kids slept over my parents’ house so Kevin and I actually got to bed early. The train was scheduled for 9:09 departure but ran over 20 minutes late. When it arrived I settled in and got comfortable with my tea. The trip took about 4 hours and when I arrived I met Jen at a pub across the street from the train station. I had a nice cold blue moon and a turkey sandwich and then we walked to our hotel to check in.

After dropping off our bags we walked to the expo to pick up our bibs and do a little shopping and I really wanted to go to the Another Mother Runner booth. Dimity spotted their 26.2 sweatshirt I was wearing when I approached their booth! She’s awesome. She gave me a big hug and signed my bib for me. I knew she couldn’t run because of her broken foot but she was going to ride a bike to cheer on her cadets. She told me she’d look for me. I bought their city of motherly love hoody and she posed for a picture with me and told me she would look for me out on the race course.

After the expo, Jen and I made plans with Joe and Melissa Pardo to hook up for dinner. We dumped our goodies off at the hotel and Joe and Melissa picked us up in the front. We went to Chickie and Pete’s. Good food, cold beer and a fun time! Jen wanted a Fliers hat so we made plans to see if we could get into the stadium area to go to the gift shop. Well after a little wheeling and dealing through the side door she was able to purchase a hat even though she didn’t have tickets into the game! We all got a good laugh out of that and then went to the Xfinity Center to check the place out. Joe drove us down South Street to show us the sites and then he dropped us back off at the hotel. It was a very fun time! Thanks Joe and Melissa!!

Jen and I were getting tired so we got ready for bed and despite a few coughing fits, the both of us settled down pretty quickly for the night. I never mentioned how sick I was during the week. I started to get a tickle on Monday with some annoying coughing. By Wednesday it was in my chest so I started steroids and used the nebulizer machine. My Tuesday morning run was a challenge but by Thursday I was breathing easier. I made sure all week that I was getting to bed early so that I could get ahead of this cold or whatever it is.

We hit the sack, I read my kindle until my eyes closed and quickly the alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. I got ready, ate my oatmeal and had some tea and we walked to the starting area.

We got there very early. I wasn’t sure how to plan for this race since I never ran it before. The paperwork said to be at the corrals no later than 5:30 but the race didn’t start until 7:00. We were there by 5:38. Thankfully I was able to find Danielle, who I was planning on running the full with and we hung out with Jen for a while before we went back to our corral. I was able to switch corrals at the expo and Danielle was able to stick with me so that worked out nice. It was very cold standing at the corrals. I had a space blanket which helped a lot. But I took it off too soon and out it back on again a few minutes later and shared it with Danielle. The corrals had some time between releases so we needed to keep warm.

We finally got to go and I helped Danielle with her knee and hip issue by doing 30/30 intervals with her. We had a great pace for the first few miles. Then I got to a point where I needed to use a potty. That usually doesn’t happen to me during races or training. But if I wanted to enjoy the rest of the 20+ miles I needed to do it. That was a big relief on my mind when I got that out of the way.

We continued on through South Street and through downtown and then ended up in the college area and the zoo. Danielle started doing a funky skip hobble which wasn’t good. Her knee was getting worse over time and we were talking about what she should do. We maintained our intervals but walked up the hills. Again we kept a good pace but I wanted her to be careful. As we were climbing a hill around mile 8 someone had donuts. Now I never eat donuts, but I looked at what there was and the glazed donut called out to me! My tummy was rumbly. I had about half of it and it was wonderful! But I didn’t want it to give me trouble so I tossed the rest.

Danielle decided around mile 10 that she was throwing in the towel. It is a very hard decision to make, especially since she paid to do the full and it was her first but her knee was really behaving badly and I was concerned that she would have major issues just finishing the full or even if she did finish, what kind of damage could be going on with it. We took some pictures before we split off and around mile 11 I said goodbye to her. It was sad losing a pal along the way. But I put on my headphones and hunkered down to complete the other half marathon I had ahead of me.

The course has many areas where you can see the other runners returning back towards the finish as I was just heading towards mile 14. That plays games with my head. I struggle with that. But then I remembered Dimity was going to be near the river so I had someone to look out for. I found her just as Sarah was coming up to her as well!! I gave a yell out to Sarah and posed for a selfie with Dimity and then kept on my journey to the finish.

I wasn’t familiar with the course so I didn’t have a sense for when I would see things. I just knew that eventually I’d have to take the route back along the river into the city. Well the course sighed and zagged a few hills here and there and over a few bridges. I saw Dimity again and gave her a shoutout. I saw Linda Bachand around mile 20 and took a picture with her. I wanted to see Danielle again and she said she would be at the bridge. It helps to know there are people you know ahead to give you a boost.

Around mile 22 I was struggling. I called my husband and talked to the kids and it helped. I decided that for the last 3 miles I would run for my husband and kids. I called him again at mile 25 and he told me to finish strong. That was helpful to me. As I came up to mile 26 I kept repeating to myself, “Finish strong”. It helped. I ran the entire .2 distance to the finish line and was practically alone in the shute. That was weird. Everyone was looking at me but I was so focused at finishing strong. I crossed the line and was very happy to have my 4th marathon completed.

I got my medal, space blanket, water and snack bag and headed back to the room to meet Jen and have my chocolate milk! This was my first non-Disney race in many months so I ran for Team Chocolate milk. I was glad to run wearing the gear that my sponsor gave me. I felt special, like maybe what I am doing actually means something. I took a shower and packed up and we left to go to the train station. Since wet didn’t have much time, we grabbed lunch at the station. We relaxed and had sandwiches and then said goodbye until next time! Jen had a great time and told me that she really felt like her old self this weekend. I’m glad she had fun and also finished the race despite her fear of not being trained enough for it.

My next marathon is Dopey. Jeff Galloway has my cluster of runs near Christmas where I do 3, 6, 13.1 and 26, but I think I am going to do a 20 or 23. I am feeling marathon burnout a little bit and don’t want to do 26 miles through my neck of the woods and then do it again at Dopey. It’s just too much. Mentally I struggle so I want to enjoy dopey and not feel the training burnout. I know my performance won’t be spectacular but my goal is to finish Dopey. Hell after my first marathon on 2013 I had no idea all this would have taken place for me!!!

This was a good race and now that I have had time to think about it, I think I would do it again as a training run. I struggled with it a little during the race. I didn’t know the course, but the point was to run on new streets and get a new view for a long training run. I have to remember that I was sick and I did great considering that. I think I am benefiting from doing multiple training runs (3, 5, 10, 26) that Jeff has on my plan and it seems to be keeping me loose and also strong at the same time. It was a beautiful day and I did enjoy it. I had a great time finally meeting Jennifer in person. I also got to hang out with Joe and Melissa and met a new Mickey Miler, Danielle! So it was a great weekend! I also recovered very quickly. I didn’t have much pain at all post race and during the following day I was able to go up and down stairs like it was nothing different. That makes me suspect that I didn’t push myself hard enough. Then when I think that, I keep reminding myself that I did what I was supposed to do and use it for a training run to remain injury free and able to do multiple miles in 4 days. Mission accomplished!

Philadelphia Marathon

October 30, 2014

I have been training for the Dopey Challenge in January, but in reality I have a real (non-Disney) marathon to do in just three weeks! I am running the Philadelphia marathon. I made arrangements back in March for a room. I was’t sure how many of my friends were going to run the race, so I booked two hotel rooms in different places. I needed to put aside time this week to find those hotel reservation confirmations, identify where the hotels are, gather up my paperwork for the race registration, research into train times and take a look at the course map.

I have been successfully training, but it sunk in that I am going to be running a marathon soon. I’m a little excited about getting a new race medal and seeing how well I do at this non-Disney race. I was listening to the Another Mother Runner podcast on my way to work Wednesday; and Sarah’s story about her BQ race in Victoria was so amazing. It really made me think of what I want. I had given up on the thought of qualifying for Boston. But I haven’t completely given up on the thought of running Boston one day. Kim told me something and I have been thinking about it.

“As Kathrine Switzer told me – her first Boston she finished in 4:30 the second she was around 3 because she worked hard. It’s as simple as that. U have to work hard to get what u want. Unless u are gifted which we aren’t. And Kathrine says she is not as well. She worked hard.”

It’s true, I am not a gifted runner, I do it because I enjoy it. But if I do want to do something I have to work hard to get it. So I am going to take the time to think about it and run some more marathons and see what happens with my finish times. I have been successfully training for Dopey with no injury so far and I’d like to keep it that way.

So for me Philadelphia will be a test to see what my time will be compared to the Providence Marathon in May. I will be running this race alone, but I am hoping to hook up with the Mother Runner Dimity and her cadet. I believe their finish time will be around 5:20 and that’s a big push for me. If I could get 5:30 I’d be blown away. Time will tell!

I have heard that this course is really fun and many people have said that the race is really great. I’m looking forward to it.

Kathryn Switzer – The First Woman To Run The Boston Marathon

April 15, 2014

On my 20 mile training run I listened to the Another Mother Runner podcast #101 with Kathryn Switzer. What an amazing story she told! She is the first woman to run the Boston Marathon. She is a professional journalist, speaker and commentator, and has several books Marathon Woman, 26.2 Marathon Stories and Running and Walking for Women Over 40. I have not read any of her books yet but they are next on my list.

She is most famous for running the Boston Marathon 45 years ago, when she officially entered what was considered to be a men’s only race. This is my first time seeing this image, but this was a very famous image of her running the Boston marathon and being attached by the race director for officially wearing a bib during the race. Her boyfriend protected her and she continued to run and finish the race.

In 1974 she won the New York City Marathon and in 1975 Kathryn finished second in the Boston Marathon with a finish time of 2:51:33.

Her most recent work is the 261 Fearless Women’s Marathon which took place on March 30, 2014 in Madrid, Spain. Bib number 261 was her 1967 Boston Marathon bib number. Women from around the world have been wearing this bib number because it makes them feel fearless in the face of adversity.

Learn more about Kathryn on her website and listen to the podcast, it’s an amazing story!

Tag: @sbsontherun