packing

I'm heading up to Massachusetts with the family for almost a week of vacation. Last night, as I was setting out my week of clothing - shorts, tanks, sweatshirt for the cold nights - I had this separate pile of clothes.

Sarah asked, "What's that for?" pointing at the black pile.

"Oh," I said, "that's all my running stuff." Yeah, the majority of my running clothes are black.

"You're going to run?" then after a pause, "will you run up the sand banks?"

Near my sister's home are these HUGE sand banks left over from decades of quarrying. Huh, I thought, now THAT would be a great hill work out!

"Maybe I will. We can all go for a walk and I'll run up and down those hills." Sarah just smiled, like I was a little crazy.

Which I am...only crazy people lay out their running clothes FIRST when they are packing for a trip. Only crazy people hone in on the words "jogging path" when they are reviewing the deck layouts of the cruise ship they will be on for their honeymoon. Only crazy people get excited when they know there'll be a fitness center at the hotel they are staying at because it will mean fitting in runs will be a bit easier in the family vacation.

Guess you just gotta love me!

Jill L. is a runner

Recently I followed my fellow running moms into joining a website called "dailymile." It's kind of like Facebook for people who want to track & post their workouts. It's a great site - easy to post, gives helpful feedback like how many calories I burned on a 5 mile run (585) or a 19 mile bike ride (1200-something). At the end of the week the site emails you a summary of what you did. Friends can comment on your workouts or send you motivation. I've linked dailymile to my blog, and so every time I post a new workout, a pretty orange (my favorite color!) box updates how many miles I ran.

But here's why I really love dailymile: when creating your profile you pick if you are a cyclist, runner, walker, swimmer, whatever. I picked runner. When I'm logged in to dailymile and on my profile page, here's what the tab reads:

Jill L. is a runner from Lebanon, PA

Sometimes I don't feel like much of a runner. Not the ATHLETE sort of runner. I've been at this activity for a few years now and I've gotten myself to the super-speedy mile pace of 10 minutes a mile, which I was reminded (inadvertently) by two people this weekend isn't really all that fast. When I'm running my 10 m/m, I am running with full-on effort. This is not a leisurely jog, this is me pushing pretty hard to maintain that pace and still breathe and not have my right arm go all tingly. I love to run, but some days I just don't feel like a "runner"; I'm just a mom who runs.

So, I've started to log-in to dailymile, just so I can glance at the tab.

Jill L. is a runner from Lebanon, PA

If it says so on the internet it must be true!

multitasking

True story:

This morning I was brushing my teeth while drying my hair AND trying to get a good hamstring stretch by bending over, head to knees. I'd straighten up, then do a side-bend stretch, still making use of the toothbrush with my right hand and holding the dryer with the left.

About 20 minutes later, in between mouthfuls of Kashi cereal, I'm straightening my hair and standing on Claire's stool, left heel hanging over the edge, trying to get a good stretch on my tight Achilles. Spoon cereal in, get new section of hair, switch to right Achilles...

I think multitasking and being a mom are synonymous.

I make supper while I have laundry going. The TV is on and I'm reading a Runner's World magazine. I rarely do just one thing at a time. With one exception (okay, two exceptions...one on one time with Glenn is focused on doing just one thing, and doing it amazingly well).

When I run, I'm doing nothing else. Perhaps, that is one reason I need to run. When I'm out there, it's just me. I can't be making supper, too, or vacuuming or refereeing the sibling squabbles of three children. When I run, that is all I'm doing. Left foot, right foot, breathe in, breathe out, roll shoulders, pump arms, left foot. I run outside, so there's no distraction of a television show or magazine to slow me down as happened the few times I ran on a dreadmill. No kids interrupting. I don't have any fancy electronics I carry with me - no Garmin to beep at me, telling me my pace is too fast or too slow, no heart rate monitor, not even an iPod for music or books or podcasts.

Running is my unitasking.

Marathon Monday

Today is Marathon Monday...the Boston Marathon that is, the world's oldest 26.2 mile race.

In Massachusetts (where I'm from) the day is actually a holiday...a day off for the entire state to watch, cheer, and participate in the best race ever! (Okay, officially the holiday is Patriots Day, the day the first shots were fired for the American Revolution in the Battle of Lexington and Concord following the Paul Revere's nighttime ride warning the Minutemen of the advancing Redcoats...but now, it's Marathon Day).

Growing up in Massachusetts, even nonrunners get excited about Marathon Day. I can still remember being in elementary school, home for the day, with live race day coverage on the television...I didn't really get it - watching two or three tired, intense, and sweaty men (and behind them, women) putting one foot in front of the other for a distance that meant nothing to me. But, it seemed exciting nonetheless. Coverage of the event for days before and after would be intense.

I remember my first Marathon Day when I was in college at Boston University (1994). My neighbor, Tara, asked me to go with her to Copley Square in downtown Boston, where the finish line is. She was a graphic arts major and had an assignment to take photos of the race...her idea was to catch shots of the back of the pack (an idea, I'm sure, fueled by the fact that we wanted to sleep in, have lunch, then go downtown). I was rather lukewarm about the idea...I mean, how boring does that sound? Let's go stand on the road and watch strangers run by you. Being a good friend, though, I accompanied her.

I have to say, that first day in Copley Square forever ruined me for every race to come: THIS is what a race is supposed to be like. Thousands and thousands of people were crowded into the city. Everyone was cheering...Thousands of runners went by and even though they were strangers, somehow, each one seemed so personal, so familiar. Perhaps it was because some of these runners were the ones featured in the news on the nights leading up to the race. The father who always ran, pushing his son in a wheelchair the whole 26.2 miles. The mom pushing a double jogger. The college kid, shirtless, running behind a keg of beer on a dolly. Or perhaps it is just that bit of common humanity that your soul hums in tune with others who are pushing themselves to their limits and proud of their accomplishment. The smiles, the raised arms, fists pumping, clapping at their own achievement, feeling the high of the crowd's cheers.

[Side note: This is what I expected my first big race to be like, the Philadelphia Marathon (or the half portion of it I ran in November of 2008). Big city, big race, big crowds, big excitement...Unfortunately, the Philly race was empty of bystanders and energy, probably due to the 22 degree temperatures and the early start time (7:00 am, as opposed to Boston's 10:00 start).]

Tara and I stayed for several hours, cheering on the runners. I'm sure the race is different now, since Boston has become so ridiculously popular (spurred on by the selectiveness of having rigid qualifying times to enter the race). But then, almost 20 years go (crap, it's been that long?), there were plenty of people at the back of the pack, plenty of runners whose time was a 5 or 6 hour marathon (unlike the elites who can run 26 miles in a little over 2 hours). We clapped until our arms ached, cheered and screamed until our voices were hoarse. It was one of the best sporting events I'd been to, then and now.

I made it a point to go down to Copley Square for Marathon Day each year I was in college, and then the three that I was across the river, studying theology in Cambridge. I'd bring friends who'd never experienced it before, and they would always come back starry eyed, as if they'd just witness something miraculous. And they did.

Perhaps, this is why I want to run in the Boston Marathon someday. This race was my introduction to running. This race is my touchstone. It is my ruler. It is what I measure every other race on. When I run Boston, it will be like a homecoming for me, a return to that nascent place where the runner within me I'd become one day was conceived.

"There are two ways to live your life. One, as though nothing is a miracle. The other, as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

migraines...

They suck. Big time.

I've had the root of one winding its way through my body...ouch my eye hurts, vision is a bit wonky. My neck, shoulder, arm and face all tingly, and not that good tingly you feel after a couple of drinks. More like that annoying tingly your face feels as the novacaine your dentist gave you before drilling starts to wear off...I'm hoping that the excedrin migraine I'm taking will stop the migraine, but all the medicine is doing is moderating the symptoms a bit...GO AWAY! I want to run tomorrow.

Since I was one of those "fortunate" Americans who had NO HEALTH INSURANCE for the longest time, I didn't have and couldn't afford a prescription for some migraine meds. My momma gave me a couple of her pills, and I hold onto them for the extremist of cases. This migraine, so far, isn't falling into that category. But, I do want to run tomorrow evening, and now that Glenn has made an honest woman out of me and I have insurance (woohoo!), I just may take my last trexemet tomorrow...

That's the plan any way.

being relaxed at running

Sometimes being a relaxed runner means that you don't run at all...

I want to run. I'm not at that mental place that most runners come to where you dread going out for a run, where tying on your shoes is a chore worse than cleaning the toilet, where every ounce of you is screaming that the couch is the place your butt belongs.

No, I want to run. I look out my car window as I go here & there about my errands that make up life and see other runners sporting their running tights or baggy shorts, legs pumping, looking fit and graceful, and I long to be out there too...But, it's just not happening.

For more than a year, I've lived with all these What-Ifs floating around like I've been living inside some chaotic snow globe that a cruel giant keeps shaking and not waiting for all the glitter to settle before she picks it up and shakes the globe again. Well, all that glittery snow is beginning to land. I'm trying to settle into a new routine. Now that I've finally moved to Lebanon, now that Glenn and I are married, now that budgets are created and work is settled and a one-year plan is drafted...Well, now I've got to figure out where that little glittery piece that says "RUN" on it fits in.

And I DID just come back from a week at Disney World. I did do that half marathon, I did spend seven straight days walking on my feet (and even running 13.1 miles), so I guess a week or two off is well deserved...But, I miss running. The one, quick run I went on last week, 2.2 miles, was squeezed in to a Wednesday full of chores & Claire-care & dinner prep & laundry & looking at a house to see if we want to buy it...I had 25 minutes to run and that's what I did (21:14 for the run and 3:46 for a shower) and while it was great to be on the road on a glorious day, I was so stressed to run and be back within my narrow window, that it was hard to listen to my body, to settle my mind, to rest in the rhythm of the pace. It wasn't really relaxed at all.

So, I'll wait. I'll wait until I can run MY way - with as much time as it takes to run whatever miles I feel like running that day. No plan, no pace goal, just me and the road and my shoes and the sun.

just like mommy

claire & granny didi doing some pre-race stretching

The best way to give the gift of a healthy lifestyle to your children is to model that lifestyle. I've been trying to model this for my daughter Claire...in fact, I took up running about 3 months after she was born (thanks in part to her colic, which was only soothed to sleep if I walked her in her stroller, which I did, 7 or 8 miles a day...it was only a very short leap to running once I'd accomplished 16 m/m while pushing a stroller up hills).

Any way, I've only raced a handful of times, but I've tried to have Claire there to see them - to feel the energy, to hear the people shouting "yay" and ringing cowbells, to see me trot by in my running tights...Claire loves that I run and has been aching to run with me. Once or twice, we've played at racing, running up & down our driveway with homemade bib numbers. But when I've asked Claire if she liked it, she always said, "I guess...but there were no people saying 'yay.'" For Claire, a race is when people are there to cheer you on, you get a finishers medal, and have a bib number.

Then, lo & behold, I sign up for the Disney Princess Half and discover that there is a kids' race the day before. Reading about the race I discover that for a nominal fee (like $10), Claire will have her own bib number (just like mommy), get a race day t-shirt (just like mommy) and a finisher's medal (just like mommy)! I sign up my budding runner and is she every excited! One day at Target, I get her her first running outfit (cute tech tee and matching running skirt...just like mommy).

On Kids Race Day, Claire, her Granny Di (my mommy), and I head to the ESPN complex. The track & field part are swarming with parents and kids, there's a lot of confusion, and the booming voice of whomever's emceeing adding to the bedlam. The three of us trot out onto the field and dance our warm-ups. I've got some fantastic memories of tiny, blond Claire dancing MJ's "Thriller".

Finally, it's time to race...Claire is in with all the wee little ones. Her birthday has her in the 1-3 yr old group running the 100m, but she is by far one of the oldest kids there (I should've moved her to the 200m with the 4 yr olds). 1-3 yr old is too wide of an age range - there were kids there who were just walking, a bajillion parents holding wee ones, and a couple capable kids like Claire. We're all lined up waiting...waiting...waiting...Apparently, Disney in its wisdom decided to have the 1m race first, so all the older bigger kids begin (keeping several hundred wee ones calm for the 25 minute wait was torture on most parents...) Claire was into the race enough to be happy cheering for all the big kids running the mile, passing us for the finish line. A few parents ran with their kids, which got me thinking that I could probably have sing Claire up for the mile and we could've run, walked, and carried her through it...

It's just about our turn. Claire says to me, "Mommy, you don't have to run this with me like all the other parents are. I know how to run by myself." My big girl!!

I step to the side, allowing Claire to jockey for her position. She seems like this wee little thing lost in a forest of big Mommy & Daddy legs. But she is feeling so big and so proud! We wait a bit more...and finally the 100 meter race starts!

Claire begins running. She runs slowly, with big bounding steps and the moms and dads pull ahead...20 meters in and finally the pack clears and Claire has space to run. The sun is hot & bright and she is loving the way her ponytail shadow is bouncing, so she's running while looking at her shadow - she's found that pure joy! big huge smile on her face...I jog ahead to take pictures and am yelling "yay Claire! Go Claire!!" but every time I pull a few steps ahead, she begins a faster surge...

And then it's done, too soon! I hug Claire and she is laughing she is so happy with herself. We go get her medal and I tell her I want a picture of her with the medal on. And still so proud of herself, Claire raises one arm in the arm in that classic (and I guess primal, because who ever taught her that?) pose of pure happyness and victory and pride!!

Just like mommy!

destination: disney!

some members of our group, on a chilly friday nite!

About a year ago, an online running group I'm a member of decided to get together at Disney World and run their Princess Half Marathon in March 2010. This seemed a fantastic idea: meet some amazing women who are all my running (and life) role models, have fun, run my 2nd half marathon, and take my daughter to Disney.

At first, I was going to take Claire for just a few days to Disney...but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my almost 4 yr old daughter would have the time of her life schmoozing with her beloved Disney Princesses...and I hadn't had a real vacation in a long time...so I booked us a week in Walt Disney World. It didn't matter that I didn't have a job - that's what credit cards are for and I'm helping our sluggish economy...And for added fun, I decided to take my mom along for the trip.

Here are the lessons I've learned about my first Destination Race and that I've discovered about racing at Disney World.

1. Bring a camera. Everyone says so, and everyone is right! Not only are some of your fellow runners decked out as princesses or wicked witches (and a few prince charmings!) but Disney has cast members out all over the place. I got more face time with the characters than my 4 yr old did...including ALL the fairies from Pixie Hollow, something I'm not sure you can find other wise at Disney.

2. Leave behind any hopes for a PR. Or even being close to your slowest race time. Heck, leave your watch at the hotel room. My girlfriends and I started out at the way back of the pack and there we stayed. Though we were running this race, we actually kept pace with the walkers because, well, we were camera-happy. There wasn't a character meeting that we didn't stop to shoot. We got some fantastically fun pictures...and that takes time...like an hour!our first mile...notice the time! (ok, we started 30 minutes after everyone else...but still, shows you how the race went for us!)

3. There are woods to pee in. Pee there. Even though Disney had more port-a-potties than any other race I've seen, often the lines were long (and who wants to wait in a line when there are photo-ops with Princess Aurora and Maleficent the witch?) and by the time we at the back got to the potties, they were indescribably gross. Peeing behind a palm bush at 7:42 am was a serene moment of beauty.

4. The Disney property is HUGE with lots of vast undeveloped space in between the parks. And this is where most of the race happens. While this might disappoint some who hoped for more inside views of the parks during the quiet early morning hours, I loved seeing a bit of the central Florida countryside - there were some very beautiful moments of mists rising off the wet, swampy places, Spanish Moss slightly swaying in the breeze, the sunrise tinting the sky colors any princess would die to wear to a ball.

5. Here is my MOST IMPORTANT LESSON: do not, I repeat, do not, try to tour the parks for days in advance of the race! My poor feet! My poor quads! My poor back, hamstrings, inner thigh muscles and other places I didn't even know could ache all ached! After 11 hours of touring the Magic Kingdom on Thursday, 9 hours at Animal Kingdom, and then another 9 hours at Magic Kingdom the day before the race, by the time my body reach the 9 mile mark of the race I was done. And I still had Hollywood Studios to do later on that day!

6. Do this race with your girlfriends! This isn't a race to run by yourself...this is a race to get your glam on with your gal-pals and hoot & holler your way to the finish line. Wear a tutu and a tiara - you'd be surprised how comfortable running in these are! And being at Disney really does make you feel like a princess...at home my girls just roll their eyes at me for strutting around in an orange tutu doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom while wearing my little jeweled tiara.me and my little princess at the end of the race