Run like the wind bulls eye!

[sandam1]

I start to realize, I don't have that level of disappointment in me again.. Like yes I want to do it! But if I fail, would that be the final straw in that breaks my runners heart?? Yes.. I think it would.

But could you ask this question in the other way - what would happen if you COULD do it?

If it takes 12 weeks to train, I'd have 23 weeks to prepare for training.. that fells okay!

Why not start training today? No, really, hear me out.

I DNF'd Dopey this past January, pulling myself a mile 1 of the marathon. I had been dealing with an injury and it just didn't happen. My training for Dopey 2023 started the minute I stepped off the marathon course.

What my "training" included:
- Heal mentally and get over the DNF
- Heal physically - continue with PT and work through my injury 100%, this took a LOT of patience
- Get stronger and rebuild conditioning - a very slow process
- Make the firm decision that I wanted a second try at Dopey - this took about a month post-race to become firm in my mind
- Put myself out there and set up a support community (both in-person and virtual)
- Work out a day to day schedule that could adapt for the time and effort that Dopey training was going to require
- Set up professional resources (physical therapist, personal trainer, and running coach) to teach me what I need to learn about distance running

While my official training plan didn't start until the end of May, I had been setting myself up for success for months. Now was it easy? Absolutely not. I happened to be going through my running journal recently and saw days that I was doing 5 reps at 30 second run/30 second walk intervals. A total of FIVE minutes! But that was what I could do at the time due to my injury and that was a starting point. By doing that, however, I had a strong enough base that I've been able to build from 2 mile long runs to 11 mile long runs in 10 weeks - and stay relatively pain-free.

Keeping a laser focus on what you do want - "eyes on the prize" - helps. Personally, I know what it feels like to have that bad race experience and I use that memory as a touchstone for when I really don't want to do something. I ask myself if running today (or whatever I'm tempted to skip) is going to feel worse than not crossing the finish line in January. And it never measures up!

If you want that medal, go get it!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I'm still excited about it the next day but I'm a lot less emotional.. I start to realize, I don't have that level of disappointment in me again.. Like yes I want to do it! But if I fail, would that be the final straw in that breaks my runners heart?? Yes.. I think it would.

I wrestled with similar fears before registering for my first marathon. What if I fail? Do I want to put in all that hard work and training? What does it mean if I fail? In the end, I came to recognize that if I chose to run the marathon, I needed to do so for my reasons and my reasons alone. I then had to evaluate my reasons in order to determine if they justified the final decision.

In summary, I recognized that I had to want to try because I wanted it. Not because someone else said I should and not because someone else said I should not and not because someone else wanted me to. In the end, I had to know my reasons for undertaking it.

If you want that medal, go get it!

I second this. I started running solely because I wanted a medal with Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland. That was my reason. Many years later I have come to recognize how much that silly decision helped my life. I'm still as slow as I ever was. Running helped remind me what I am capable of and I look back with a sense of pride about how running wound up helping me silence a very real and negative voice in my life.

 

[Katie Little]

As promised here's my one month update.

@sandam1 and @Sleepless Knight made some very tempting points and I appreciate the support more than you know, but I did decide to stick with my original plan and not run the 10 miler this time. That said... If I've done the math correctly the 50th anniversary of the Virginia 10 miler is coming up (you know the race that got me into running in the first place...) It's September of next year so that is my current big race that I'm shooting for.

As for how the last month went, I'm doing okay. I haven't been focused on miles or time yet, just focused on moving and getting out of my sedentary life style. My under the desk treadmill came in and it's been great. I walk VERY slow (like a mile an hour) and I try my best to get on it every day. The slowness is part because I'm trying to take it slow and part because if I go too fast it gets hard to type/work while walking. But any way, I walk on my tredmil almost daily (Su-Th) until something hurts. My foot has not bothered me at all but around the hour mark (sometimes earlier and sometimes later) either my knee or my hip starts to have a sharp pain. Once I feel that pain, I put the tredmill away do a 7 min yoga routine and get back to work, and sometime I'll hop back on later. I'm averaging about an hour and a half a day with my best day being 3 miles (over 2 hours - not consecutive) and my worst being about a half a mile (30 mins of walking). Well I guess technically my worst would be the couple of days I did nothing..

At first I was dreading this post a little because while yes that's more than I've been doing, it's kind of embarrassing that that is my big update; however, I noticed something this weekend. We went to Disney Friday for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween party or as I'm referring to it Mickey's not so Dry Halloween Party .It was a crazy trip. We left here at 5am Friday morning and our return flight landed at 1:30p Saturday. When got to Orlando at 9am and then went to Disney Springs for a few hours before going to Magic Kingdom at 4p and of course we stayed till midnight. Usually on a big Disney day like that my feet are KILLING ME and everything hurts by 6 or 7 but this trip I was hanging in there without a hint of soreness until we were waiting for the fireworks to start at 10:15pm... I made it a full 13 hours of walking around the park before the first little bit of soreness. And even then, that's what it was. It was just soreness not pain.. Our last Disney trip was in May so I can confirm with utter Joy that something I'm doing is working!!! Something is making this whole thing easier!

The number on the scale has not changed that I know of. I know that I went over that number but I'm not sure by how much. I'm starting to notice a little bit of a difference in my body so I know I've lost something and when I went to the fertility doctor (nothing to report there - that was my very first appointment so they are just running tests for now) I was surprised to see that the number was the same as it was when I stopped looking. If I had to guess, I'd guess that I've lost about 5 pounds which isn't a lot for a months time, but it's a good start considering that I haven't made any huge changes to my lifestyle. I'm simply tweaking things here and there and just doing what feels right.

So what's my plan moving forward? Well my under the desk treadmill is currently ticking a lot of boxes for me but it is super inconvenient to move back and forth. I'd like to get to a point where I'm walking for the first half of my shift and then sitting after lunch (4 hours a day). So that's my goal to be at that point by 10/18 and I'll update you then!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

@sandam1 and @Sleepless Knight made some very tempting points and I appreciate the support more than you know, but I did decide to stick with my original plan and not run the 10 miler this time. That said... If I've done the math correctly the 50th anniversary of the Virginia 10 miler is coming up (you know the race that got me into running in the first place...) It's September of next year so that is my current big race that I'm shooting for.

One thing that I would like to add to what I said earlier. It's also important to make sure that runners take mental preparation as seriously as they take physical preparation. Both are necessary to have an enjoyable race experience even if that experience simply involves finishing. My mental preparation was honestly very poor until I had my worst race ever. After getting used to how races went, I had a race where I failed to meet my own expectations and I knew early on that I was in trouble. Each mile was a slog and ultimately became a test of my willpower to not quit.

I'm now grateful I had to endure that race because it helped expose a lot of my flaws and allowed me to confront them and prepare to deal with a bad day if it happened again during a major goal race. Mental preparation matters too and if your heart isn't in it, you want to figure out why.

GOOD LUCK!
I was going to suggest that you consider the virtual option for the Toy Story medal since you can decide how you want to approach it and aren't bound to completing all 10 miles in one go if that's not something that's in the cards for your at this point in time. DH signed up for the W&D challenge for the Genie medal and he has absolutely no plans to run a half marathon in one run (yet.)

Honestly, I think this can be one of the great advantages of virtual races. Set aside the distance, etc. I believe that at the end of the day for most of us, running is not a thing we do to prove ourselves against others. Rather it is something we do to prove ourselves against the old self. Upon finishing a goal race, we can recognize our growth from day one to race day. And let me be clear. a goal race is what you define it as. A 5K is just as important to one runner as a marathon is to another.

In other words, if signing up for the virtual Toy Story race helps you get out there and work towards your fitness and exercise goals, then do not worry about how you complete those 10 miles, whether it be all at once in a slower pace or over time.

Honestly, I was in a rut during the pandemic. For obvious reasons, it was easy for me to make up excuses to not go and exercise. The virtual marathon helped break me out of that. Did I run a virtual 26.2 miles in one setting? Nope. While I intended to at the start, I came to realize that my fitness level was not sufficient to run 26.2 miles in one setting. I also decided that it would be better to run 26.2 miles over a certain number of days instead of all at once because that would help me to continue running after the virtual race. It helped keep me exercising, so it was a success.

If that medal helps you feel better because you're working to get better, I wouldn't worry about whether or not all 10 miles came in one fast run, a slow run, or multiple runs. It's about being better today than you were yesterday.

 

[Katie Little]

Long time no talk... I have a few updates . And one of those updates is the size of a lemon!

While I haven't been able to consistently stick to any kind of running plan, I was able to start constantly going to the gym and really focus on my kitchen game. It's kind of hard to ignore that the reason my joints seem to hurt more than other runners is because of the extra weight I'm caring around. So since October of 2022, I've been watching what I eat and getting some kind of movement in a few days a week. By the end of Feb I had lost 30 pounds and was able to do some light easy running with no pain. However, all of that clean eating seamed to help with another goal of mine and my husbands and I'm soooooo excited to share this update with you guys!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats!!!!!

 

[Naomeri]

Congratulations!