My cause, my weight, and my runs -need I say more

I can't believe it's already mid-April.  The past month has been busy with the Miles4Kids fundraiser that I've had little time to write a personal blog post.  Let's see, what can I write about?  Well, I can update on Miles4Kids, my weight, and my running.  Here we go.

Miles4Kids 

We are in full swing this month to raise awareness on the importance of supporting child abuse prevention. This year, we've done things a little different but incorporating a race and shying away from the community/family event we've previously had.  I have mixed emotions about not having a family type event. I think it hit me yesterday when my grand daughter asked me when we were having "fundraiser".  How do I explain to a 5 year old that the fundraiser this year is a race - she expected to go somewhere where there were kids and a big giant jumping thing? In my fantasy world of fundraising, I still envision a 5K family walk followed by a picnic style cook-out at the park for our child abuse prevention event.   It will come, I know it.  I won't rest until it does.  I hope you will go visit the Miles4Kids webpage to see exactly what we're doing for child abuse prevention.  We're getting close to our half way fundraising goal through wonderful people helping us.  When this event ends, I will write a blog post specifically dedicated to those who's helped make a difference. 

My Weight

I am almost positive my mirrors are rigged.  Seriously!  I see myself in the mirror and yes, I do see a chubby middle-aged woman who needs to drop a few pounds and who is starting to show some aging signs. But I certainly wasn't prepared for what I saw yesterday as we took as we were getting ready for our Pinwheel Garden.  YUUUUUCK.  My goodness, even my eye lids are fat.  The word I used yesterday was 'mortified'.  It's actually very embarrassing. I'm out-of-shape, flabby, and really need to kick my own a** for letting myself get like this.  Okay, I'm done about my weight.  For the moment.  

My Running

It's now three weeks before the half marathon.  The training has been up and down.  It's been a struggle to get to a point where I feel like a runner again.  Most of my runs are slow and even painful.  My pace is at least 1-1.5 min miles slower than before - most likely due to my weight gain and recovering from the ...well you already know.  I had a long run last week that nearly sent me over the edge mentally.  Somewhere around mile 10, I had a meltdown.  Yes, a meltdown where I felt I could not go on and began to cry.  Last time I had one of those was during the marathon where I was freezing and running in the rain.  Anyway, my long run last week shook me up and totally took me down for the remainder of the day. 

This week, I must have felt like I needed to redeem myself.  My friends invited me to join them on their long run today for 13 miles.  I admit, I was very apprehensive.  I worried about slowing them down, having my own meltdown, needing to take breaks, etc.  However, I'm glad to report that this run went well. For the first time in many months, I actually felt like I was a runner again.  The run itself was tiring towards the end but all in all, I will call it a success.  I can't begin to express how nice it is to have someone to run with.  Even better is that I do not feel all wiped out like I did last week.  So, three weeks till the big race! Looking forward to my cousin coming and joining me at this race!  And......we will be wearing TuTu's !!!  

Until next time ~Christina

I'm running for a cause !

Spoiler alert - okay I admit, I love Miles4Kids, probably because in 2009 I wanted to put meaning in to my runs - hence my hubby and I formed Miles4Kids.  

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month and guess what that means?  Yep, I'm back and I'm running for a cause - child abuse prevention!   That's right, bad knees and all, I'm participating in the Miles4Kids Get Moving 4 Kids event on 05.05.13 and need your support!  I will be running a half marathon (13.1 miles) at the upcoming Prairie Fire Race to help the Miles4Kids team reach an overall fundraising goal of $1200 for child abuse prevention!  

Did you know that a report of child abuse is made every 10 seconds? Child abuse cost the nation as much as $258 million dollars each year but every dollar when we invest in prevention programs saves seven dollars in intervention programs. Let’s invest in our children. 

I am asking you to sponsor my half marathon by making a donation for child abuse prevention. To encourage your donation, you're name will be entered in a drawing for great prizes such as a new 16GB Kindle Fire HD with each $10 donation.  Please make your donation at the right side of this page.  All proceeds raised will benefit the Healthy Families -a prevention program offered by Kansas Children's Service League.  

Together , we can make a difference in the lives of children and their families.

My Condolences

I actually was going to sit down and write a blog post about my running adventures, but before I began writing, I was on Facebook looking at status updates.  I then ran across a status that broke my heart.  Suddenly, I lost interest in my running.  A man, who I never met, but know through the social media, posted a pic of his son who he lost.   From the picture, I'm assuming his son is in high school.  I do not know the specifics of what happened to his son, all I know is that a father and family are mourning the loss of a child.  

To Adam Tinker aka Zen Runner, my deepest condolences to you and your family.  I cannot even begin to know what you are experiencing right now,  but from one parent to another, my deepest condolences to your loss. 

Christina  

"You need to run faster"

As I build back up my running, I keep telling myself over and over not to get so hung up on my pace.  When I step out the door for my run, I promise myself I will not look at my watch and just enjoy the run.  But about 4-5 minutes into my run, I sneak a peak.  Then those obsessive thoughts enter my head, "you need to run faster" or "you're running too slow".  I wish I could turn that recording off but I can't.

Today on my run, I actually felt good.  I felt like I was moving at a decent pace and working up a sweat.  Yes, there was sweat, but when I looked at my watch (again), my average pace was around 12:20 mm.  Seriously?! I really felt like I was moving so what's the deal? My normal pace is around 11:00-11:15 mm but I can't seem to get even close to that now.  Then tonight, I had a glimpse in the mirror from the backside - there was my answer- my weight.  YUCK...!!!! Well yeah my pace was better before because I wasn't carrying an extra 10 pounds!  The fact is, my knees just can't handle this weight I'm carrying.  No seriously, my knees scream at me when I run -even as I write this, my left knee is having painful spasms.  If I want to improve on my pace and be kinder to my knees, I've got to get a check on what goes in my mouth.  I've got to start dropping some weight.

I am so thankful that I'm out running again and although I am in some pain, it's tolerable enough to be able to run -but my obsessive mind keeps telling me "you need to run faster".  I think the time is now for me to quit making excuses about my eating and start making better choices.

I'm done ranting.  Until next time - I'm going to work on making every mile count. ~Christina

Miles4Kids - A new beginning

After reading an article in Runner's World about a couple who used their running to raise money charity, in September 2009, my husband and I decided we would do the same.  The cause seemed very easy - after all, during that time I was investigating allegations of abuse and neglect with children.  We looked for a race or team that was similar to our cause but could not fine a local event.  So, we decided to create our own child abuse prevention team.

Miles4Kids became official in February 2010.  In April 2010 we held our first fundraising event to support child abuse prevention programs.  By the end of April 2012,  Miles4Kids had raised over $11,000 and felt like we were on a roll. Then it stopped.  

In the previous events,  we created successful events - most of which were not related to running/walking races - and were also very time consuming. More importantly, we seemed to be deviating from the original premise. The consequence resulted in Miles4Kids coming to a complete halt.   Then in late February, the snow storm hit.  

A friend of mine once told me, "determine your goal and then everything you do must work towards meeting that goal." With the help of my brother and my husband, during the snow days, we all began re-creating the Miles4Kids logo and website and redefining our mission which meant returning to our original goals - to raise money via running or walking events. 

This year and moving forward, we will create events surrounding running/walking to raise money for child abuse prevention.   It is our hope that others will want to to join us in our fundraising efforts by running/walking miles for kids.  

Please visit the Miles4Kids web page to join our cause or to volunteer. 

Snow Day(s)

So I'm finishing up day number 5 of snow days and I thought I'd write what I did on each day.

Day 1 - Thursday -  Totally loving being home - completed homework, ran, thought about all the things I would get done.

Day 2 - Friday - It was so fabulous that I totally cannot remember what I did.

Day 3- Saturday - Classes cancelled. Not sure why, roads were good so I cooked and began working on Miles4Kids stuff. Heard part 2 of storm was coming. Looked out window, saw sunshine.  Thought it was a joke. Decided to run on the treadmill.  The evening was good since I had my granddaughter.

Day 4- Sunday - Made pancakes for my granddaughter.  Later, our Governor says to stay off the streets - the school closings began.  Continued Miles4Kids stuff - cooked more - ran a few miles - looked out the window to see if the blizzard was coming - looked the same.

Day 5 - Monday - Got a text from my co-worker at 6:30 a.m. - work closed.  Thought she was playing a joke on me.  Looked outside, wondered when part two of the storm was coming.  Began stalking my brother for new logos. Sent him about 50 emails and texts.  Lurked on Facebook all day.  Looked out the window again - waited for the storm.  Asked my husband to just scrap the old Miles4Kids page and start over.  He loved me for that one.

What have I learned about myself?  I am not capable of being a stay-at-home wife.  I am not a productive person being at home.  I'm almost sure I've had these jeans on for 2 or 3 days.

It's now 10:45 p.m. on day 5....will there be a day 6?

Christina

Bragging Rights for Races Expire When?

I noticed as I begin to work on rebuilding my miles that I often find myself saying, "I only ran 4 miles today, but I remember when I ran 8 miles", "...or when I was training from my half marathon", "...or when I was training for my full marathon".  I find myself needing to remind people that yes,  I realize my miles are now low, but there was a time when I could really run further.  Or that I know I am not one of those "skinny" runners, but I really could run (or jog depending who you ask) a full marathon.  But how long can I bring up my previous races? Is there an expiration date on bragging about races?

I do not think that anyone can ever take away that feeling of completing a goal race whether it's a 5K, 10K, full or half marathon.  There is that proud moment when we cross that finish line and have that huge sense of accomplishment. For me, my first was when I finished my first half marathon and my first full marathon. But let's face it, my last full marathon was 14 months ago.  How long can I really continue to remind others (or maybe myself) that yes, I completed something ?  In my own opinion, I do think there is a sort of "bragging expiration date" but I just haven't determined how long it is -maybe 2 years, maybe 3 or 5 years? Who knows.

I guess the real question is why I feel I need to follow up any running statement with a "....yeah, but I also ran a full marathon".  Lately I've been thinking about this and have come up with two reasons:  1) Since I feel I don't "look" like a runner (yeah, I've got some junk in the trunk), that some may not believe that I am a runner and 2) My current training miles are so low and so slow that I feel inadequate as a runner.  I know, those are crazy thoughts... right?

I do not want to be someone who get's stuck in a particular time period of the good ol' running glory days where I continue to remind people what I've done.  I know my accomplishments and I know where I want to go.  I guess what I am saying is that my bragging rights for my previous races will expire soon and I will be okay.  In general, I'm not one to live in the past and I'm certainly not going to live in the running past either.  I will continue to work on my attitude about my running abilities and my image as a runner as the expiration officially closes.