ChristianRunners.org

On Tuesday evenings, I volunteer to organize track workouts for any runners who might be interested in such follies.  Christian Runners Track is a concept that started about 2 years ago.  A CR ‘Track Night’ invitation was posted on the CR website (Thanks to Richard Hopkins for being brave enough to allow the concept!).  I assumed (oops, automatic red-flag whenever you see THAT word) I’d show up at the track and have about 10 people waiting to run.  To my surprise, nobody showed up.  I ran the workout alone but stayed faithful that the following week would surely be more successful.  As fate would have it, I went out to the track every week, rain or shine for almost 3 months before that one beautiful evening when another runner showed up.  It was such a great day! 

With the onset of Daylight Savings, the track workouts came to rest for the winter.  I tossed around the idea of not hosting the workouts again as the new season rolled around.  The thought of showing up week after week and running alone, again, was exhausting in itself!  But when another runner said he was looking forward to getting back out to the track, reservations were set aside and the new invite was posted.  10 people showed up for the first practice!!!  WooHoo!  Every Tuesday night for the first month or so 10 to 13 runners of different skill-levels would show up to run.  And little by little, week after week, a couple more people would show up until one night there were 20!  What a nice number! That number allowed me to create the workouts AND physically run them with everyone. What a blast! The vision of a CR Track Extravaganza had come to fruition!!!  It’s exciting when plans come together!

A few months ago I ran in the 2009 Boston Marathon.  That marathon will forever be etched in my mind.  It was strange because I’d had no problems leading up to the event.  I followed a good training plan, never broke any of the rules regarding 10% increases, recovery, hydration, nutrition, stretching, etc.  I did absolutely everything by the book in preparing for the race.  I’ll spare you all the race details for the sake of time.  Let’s just say that by the time I crossed the finish line, the bottoms of my feet were completely destroyed.  My foot pain was excruciating and I was hardly able to walk!  Fast-forward to today (9am, July 3, 2009).   I have run only 3 times since Boston. My feet never recovered and I was diagnosed with severe plantar fasciitis, which is an ‘injury’ to the bottoms of your feet that primarily affects your heels (Google it for the juicy details!).

The interesting thing about all of this (I swear, there’s a point!) is what happened with the attendance at CR Track Night AFTER I was forced to stop running.  I still showed up at the track to divvy out the workouts.  My heart was sick because I wanted SO desperately to run with everyone.  As an athlete, it’s just plain hard to watch other athletes do what you want to do when you can’t do it!  But as I hobbled out onto the track for my first attempt at hosting from the sidelines, I was greeted by 28 runners.  In my wildest dreams I never imagined that many people would want to partake in the CR Track Festivities.  I stood in awe as all those beautiful, eager runners/walkers/joggers looked at me with wide, questioning eyes filled with anticipation about what workout might be written on the card I was holding. Even if I was healthy and able to run, there would have been no way to do it that night.  We formed 2 groups in order to make the workout go smoothly.  TWO groups at one time on the track.  WOW!

Since that first night that I ‘coached’ from the sidelines, the number of runners coming for their fix of CR Track has grown to 34.  What started as a selfish dream of having friends to do track workouts with has turned into an opportunity to organize workouts that help friends reach their goals.  I didn’t know it was in ‘the plan’ for me to stand around and shout commands and keep groups organized.  I didn’t realize I’d have a chance to observe my friends as they run and give them tips regarding technique or offer words of encouragement so they wouldn’t quit when they got tired.  Had it not been for the Plantar Fascia Monster, this control-freak, type A, over-achiever would have made every attempt to continue running the workouts with all those track-stars, thus missing out on the most amazing opportunity to create opportunity for other people.  Who knew?  Well, we all know Who knew…J

I’m not a big fan of coincidences or accidents.  I prefer the idea of Divine intervention.  I believe it’s true that there are angels put into place who direct us and keep us on a special path.  Last Tuesday I received a second round of cortisone injected into my left foot and I was advised to hold off running for another 3 weeks.  I was pretty bummed about that but reminded myself that God has a really good reason for keeping me on hiatus.  That same night, as I hobbled once again from my car down to the track, I was greeted by track stars and angels.  They descended upon me with a little rocking chair so I didn’t have to stand throughout the entire practice.  One angel brought me a present: A whistle! My very first whistle! J  Another angel brought me a little blue ball that can be made cold or hot and is designed specifically for massaging the bottoms of feet! Yet another angel worked the ‘sign-in’ sheets… One by one, all these track-stars… these angels… spoke little words of encouragement that meant more than they probably know.  I’m not sure I’ll ever pick up physically running in the CR track workouts again, even when I’m healthy and able to participate.  The action is really found on the sidelines and it’s SO much greater there than I ever thought it could be!

Last Tuesday night when I was driving home from CR Track Practice, instead of questioning God about why I have an injury that forces me to stand along-side the track… I thanked Him for it.  And I thanked Him for blessing me with the opportunity to have all the angels (Dr. Peebles, the CR Board, you amazing folks who show up at the track every Tuesday) cross my path. The hardest lessons can be the greatest lessons.  J   

Plantar Fascia: Sleeping with the feet ‘flexed’ is part of the prescription for fixing plantar fasciitis, and these fun contraptions make that possible.  I typically wake up once every hour and give myself a pep-talk to prevent myself from tearing the evil items off my feet and throwing them out the window.  Plantar and Fascia Bunnies don’t like the contraptions, either.  By far, the greatest benefit of NOT being able to run is that for the first time in 6 years, I HAVE ALL 10 OF MY TOENAILS!  God is so GOOD!

Shiny New Cars and Fancy New Shoes.

How is it possible to have SO much to say regarding the sport of running?  Seriously!  Does the information on the subject ever run out? (No pun intended!  J)  If you love running as much as I do, you look forward to the monthly influx of running magazines, newsletters, e-letters, or even text messages with ‘tips of the week’.  I get excited about any minute bit of info that will provide me the greatest amount of knowledge that enables me to reach my goals. 

 Ok, not everyone is as crazy as I am about decision-making processes, but I know a bunch of you who fit the bill! I remember when I was getting ready to buy a new car.  I was such a good girl in terms of taking the time to research and compare all of the available options.  I made a list of all the cars I liked ‘visually’ first.  Forget safety!  WHAT-EV-ER!  I wanted a cool ride that would last forever and I wanted to pay as little as possible for it.  Simple!  Once I’d narrowed down my ‘visual’ list of cars, I looked at prices.  Note to self:  Next time narrow by price FIRST in order to avoid major disappointments that accompany realization that half the cars on the list are outside desired price range.  Other note to self:  If the name ‘Lotus’ is involved, don’t consider price at all… simply move on.

Next, I started looking at things like safety, performance, efficiency and (more importantly) how well my road bike would fit in the trunk.  The list dwindled down to 2 cars, and I allowed test-driving to commence.  Oh, YEAH!  Truly, the best part of buying a new car is the test-driving adventure!  Something amazing happens in my head once I’m behind the wheel of a twitchy little car with lots of torque!  I’m sure I’ll never be able to explain it!  Admittedly, I’m a control-freak and I require that my car shifts upon command – when I want it to.  I opted in for manual transmissions.  Once test-driving was finished, I had all the information necessary to make an educated purchase.  It’s a wonderful feeling that accompanies a final decision when you’ve done everything within your control to ensure that decision is best for you.  There are no regrets!  I LOVE ‘no regrets’!!!

I think many of us are constantly seeking information that will help us make the right decision in any given circumstance.  We look and look and look for that one little piece of information that will sway us one way or another.  I do it with running shoes, too!  You can bet that before I bought my first pair of trail-running shoes I tried on EVERY SINGLE BRAND of trail shoe before I picked one.  Thanks to the Big Peach Running Company employee for his patience while I wavered back and forth with my choices! 

With running, I think it’s interesting that we can read the same information written time after time by different authors, but it’s the way the information is presented the 10^th time around that hits us and makes sense even though we’d seen the same info several times before.  There are tons of different ways to describe tempo runs, fartleks, intervals, etc.  It’s funny that it took me years to finally come across a marathon training article that made me feel like I could really run 26.2 miles.  I’d read boatloads of different stories and training plans about marathons, but one day I saw an article that just rubbed me the right way, and the rest is history! 

I suppose all these thoughts were provoked while I was chatting with my brother about the best way to read the Bible. It got me thinking that reading the stories in the Bible can be compared to buying a car or figuring out what shoes to get.  There are so many Bible stories to choose from!  Many of those stories are told by different authors who never even knew each other.  Those authors were alive at different times in history, yet they each told the same stories and taught the same lessons using their own styles to convey the events and teach God’s lessons.  I think God knew how tough decision-making would be for us.  He made sure His instruction book had all the stories and lessons told repeatedly, in several ways, so that everyone might have a chance to see His point.  Just like running magazines contain article after article about the single act of running, The Bible contains lesson after lesson about the act of following Christ.  Eventually, if we keep reading, we’ll probably get to a story that makes perfect sense.  And the rest will be history.   

April 2009
What’s on YOUR Shirt?

I had planned to use a different article for the ‘Shorts’ this month.  It was already written.  And then I ran 24 miles alone this morning, and I had a really cool experience.  Next month you can read about planning out a ‘season’ of running.  I’m thinking we’re all in need of a mental break from running strategies, anyway.  Most of us just finished the ING half or full marathon, so let’s not talk shop in this article.  Let’s talk shirts!  I’ll warn you that I’m about to let a little info about my past slip onto this document.  Be ready!!!

I haven’t always been a ‘practicing Christian’.  Ooh.  It feels funny to admit that.  Really, though, it’s pertinent to the article.  I wasn’t a bad person and I didn’t do ‘bad’ things.  I just didn’t include Christ in all of my decisions.  Sometimes that led to me making some pretty stupid (ok, REALLLLY stupid) decisions which I would regret later on.  At the time, I thought I knew what I was doing.  After the fact, well, yeah…pretty sure I had no clue how some of the consequences of my actions would change the direction of my life like they did. 

Anyway, back to shirts.  I remember when I was trying to get a handle on all of this ‘God, Jesus, Christian’ stuff.  Man, it seemed so complicated.  One day I saw this group of runners at a race and they were wearing racing singlets that said ‘Runners for Christ’ in big white letters on the front.  I can admit this now, but it’s strange to think about it.  Two things crossed my mind upon seeing the runners in those singlets.  First, I wished I was a ‘good enough person’ to wear that shirt (in public).  Second, I wished I could talk to those runners but feared they’d judge me because they lived a Christian lifestyle (or claimed they did) which made them think they were good enough to advertise Christ on their shirts…in front of ‘God and all creation’.   WHOA!  Who’s judging who, here?  Yikes!  All of THAT from a shirt?  EEK!

Week after week I’d see these guys in their ‘Godly shirts’.  I ended up running next to one guy in a 5k race.  Afterwards he said I ran a great pace, and he thanked me for keeping him on target for his goal.  We shared a few words and went our separate ways.  I felt like such a dork!  Here I had gone and created a reputation, image and lifestyle for this guy just because of his shirt!  He never once mentioned Christ to me; never asked where I went to church; never asked me that ‘scary’ question about being ‘saved’.  All that stuff, all those words, all so uncomfortable to me at that time.  Many people grow up around it and think it’s just normal.  To people like me, well, it was foreign. 

I got to chat with the ‘Godly shirt guys’ a few more times.  They seemed normal.  Did I say that out loud?  Uh, yes.  Yes I did.  This could be a nightmare of an article in the political realm, I think.  Anybody have the phone number for HR? 

Anyway, after a few discussions with some of these guys (and some of the TEAM 4:13 runners) I learned that many of them had backgrounds that were like mine.  They just decided to let Christ into their lives to drive their decisions and that’s when their lives changed.  Many of them told me their lives didn’t necessarily get ‘easier’ but things definitely got ‘better’.  So, the seed was planted in my brain and it led to where I am now.  Ok, so there’s a WHOLE LOT of trial and error that went on before I got here, but the point is that I got here.  I KNOW why those Runners for Christ guys wore their shirts.  I KNOW why those TEAM 4:13 members did it, too.  It’s because they, like me, had a journey that was too cool to not share with others…and that cool journey started with including Jesus in their decisions.  They wanted to share the secrets, and the way to reach people like me was by wearing a sign… wearing a shirt.  Hey! Excuse me!…Blue Light Special…I’ve got something to share if you just show up and ask!

So.  Fast forward to 2009. Here I am.  I wear my CHRISTIANRUNNERS.ORG singlet because I hope I can plant that seed for someone else out there who might be where I was in my journey at one time.  Funny thing about the shirt.  I never have to approach people.  They come to me.  I play the game just like the ‘Godly shirt guys’ played it with me.  They were nice to me.  They never pushed.  They NEVER judged.  They were just nice people who shared their stories at the right time in the right place.  I’m SO SO SOOOO grateful that they did!

As I said (a million words ago in paragraph #1), I had something cool happen on my run this morning.  It was a tough run.  24 miles alone.  Windy.  Hotter than I anticipated.  I get a little kooky in those late miles.  Well, I might be kooky all the time but it’s more obvious 3 hours into a run.  With 2 miles to go I was cooked (kooked?).  I didn’t want to walk.  2-more-stinky-miles!  Onward.  1 mile left.  Friends, I won’t lie.  With one mile left my mind had taken the long walk off the short pier of saneness. Just as I was about to give up and start walking,  another runner comes up on my left and says “Hi! How’s it goin’”?  I reply to him that I’ve got one mile left in my 24 mile run and walking is about to commence.  This runner tells me that he’ll run my mile with me and do all the talking to distract me from defeat.  Seriously, people… no kidding!  He starts telling me a story he heard from his preacher at church. It was about a lady who was trying to swim across a channel (not the English Channel- I can’t remember which one).  This swimmer was trying to break a record by swimming all the way across this channel.  Fog rolled in and she started to give up but she didn’t realize she was less than ½ mile from the shore!  Really, people… This is the story I’m getting from some guy I’ve never met in the last mile of my long run.  You know how fast that mile went by?  Too fast for me to remember.  Walking never commenced.  I’m still wondering if Paul (that was the runner’s name – what are the odds?!) would have felt inclined to run my last mile with me had I not been wearing my Christianrunners.Org shirt today.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Regardless, that is what made me think about the journey I took that led me to feel so happy in my Godly shirt.  Thanks for that last mile, Paul!  It was the best mile of my run this morning. 

Thanks for reading J 

March 2009
Don’t Worry!  Just Go Swiftly… With the Flow.

I’m at mile nine and have only five more miles to go. Man, it’s windy. And it’s cold, too.  That piece of hair that won’t fit into my ponytail continues tapping annoyingly at my cheek.  I reach up and push it back underneath my cap, even though I know it will only slip down again within a quarter mile.   In my hand I hold the sock from my right foot.  I took it off at mile 2 since my shoe wouldn’t stop eating it.  Still, I try to analyze why the other sock wasn’t being eaten.  Mile 10!  But now I feel like I’m running lop-sided because one foot is naked in my shoe and there’s a teeny pebble rolling from front to back to front with every stride I take.  Hmmm.  Do the motorists driving by think I look lop-sided?  Maybe I really AM lop-sided?  What if I hold my sock in the other hand?  Will that balance my stride so it feels normal?  As I look down I notice the yellow stripe that runs the length of my tights on my left leg has twisted inward while the stripe on my right leg has behaved itself and held fast to the outside of my leg like it should.  Is that because I’m running lop-sided?  Mile 13!  The cold wind is penetrating my shoe and numbing the toes on my naked foot.  Will I get frostbite if I continue running like this?

Good grief, already!  Yeah, I’ve run a few workouts like that, where every single mile was plagued with crazy thoughts or strange things that normally don’t occur in my training.  I have to wonder where my head is on a run like that.  I think it happens to every runner at one point or another.  You get out there and as soon as something happens that isn’t routine, well, the workout starts to unravel.  Before you know it you’ve gone from focusing on your pace to focusing on the repercussions of being a naked-footed, lop-sided, frost-bitten runner.  Will that give me I.T. band issues?  Maybe I need a thicker sole on one shoe so I’m level again?  :)

Crazy, unexpected issues that sneak up on us during our workouts can really be frustrating, can’t they?   You train, train, train and focus on a goal, investing your precious time and effort in order to meet that goal, and then BOOM!  Suddenly it’s race day and your gel pack unnoticeably bounces out of your back pocket, the sole of your shoe comes unglued and snaps back and forth on the bottom of your foot with every step you take and, of course, the train that wasn’t due to come through the race course until after the event now has 280 runners at a stand-still (at mile 17 of the marathon).  You think I’m kidding?!?! 

I say all this as we head into that magical season called spring.  Time to get off the treadmill, out of the gym and on the road again (just can’t wait to get on the road again…)!!!  YIPPEEE!  Endless miles will be logged by runners and walkers of all abilities.  I know many of you have those half and full marathons lined up and you’ve put your hearts into training for them.  But, like everything in life, we can’t predict what will happen when we head out to the open road, the trail or the track.  It’s almost a guarantee that unexpected things will occur.  Instead of letting those surprises ruin your workout or your race, just try to go with the flow and smile about them.  Laugh at yourself when your gel splits open and runs down the back of your shorts! Imagine the phenomenal impact your cool reaction will have on those who witness your misfortune!  In some cases, the only thing you can control is your own reaction to the circumstances.  Sometimes it’s REALLY hard to do! I’m reminded of this when I read those famous words from the book of Matthew (Mat 6: 27 and Mat 6: 34).  “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”   “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own”.  It’s so true!

Can You Spare Some ‘Change’?

Happy New Year, friends!

I hope 2009 is off to a great start for you!  This is always an exciting part of the year.  It’s like an official clean slate, fresh start, second chance (ok, maybe 7^th or 8^th chance for a few of us!).  We hear the magic word everywhere: RESOLUTION!  This is the time of year when everyone all over the world recognizes the chance to commit to something better.    We hear lots of resolutions being made; “I’ll do a better job of sticking to my training plan, being a better friend, budgeting my money … “.  Yeah, there are lots of things for us to resolve, aren’t there? 

I am SO blessed.  I was given the most incredible gift this Christmas.  It was a Mazda RX8.  NOT!  J  Santa didn’t think I needed a new car, especially one with enough kick to put a fearless driver such as myself in a predicament where speeding tickets would be inevitable (I resolve to drive the speed limit ALL year this year!).  Nope, no car for me this Christmas…Just lunch.

This Christmas I went home to Florida.  I had lunch with an old acquaintance named Fred.  A couple months ago I found out that Fred was diagnosed with cancer.  It was really disturbing because Fred was a textbook picture of health and fitness.  He is young, too!  Fred and I were never really ‘close’ friends but we’d raced road bikes for the same team and worked on a few team projects together here and there.  Fred wasn’t really a man of many words.  We’d have the usual idle chit-chat:  “How was the race?   How’s training?  What’s next on your event calendar?”  You all know the chit-chat I’m talking about.  We were always busy working, training, racing and planning for the next event.  Like most competitive athletes, our lives revolved around our next workout (which came before anything else!) and our racing calendar (of course, scheduled out for an entire year so we could plan ‘life’ around it). Race after race, workout after workout, month after month we’d just keep going on like that.  When sports is your passion and you feel so happy doing it, it can really become the center of your life.  I guess we didn’t realize that was how things were because we were ‘in it’ and we had friends and family who supported it.  It was ‘normal’. 

So- back to lunch.  I just know I’ll never forget the hour and a half I got to spend with Fred over this holiday.  We talked about SO many things.  We didn’t talk much about training.  Hardly talked about the next ride and had no idea if there was a race on either one of our calendars.  We talked about the good stuff!  I got to hear about Fred’s daughters and his wife.  I get all misty-eyed (ok, crying like a baby…) just thinking about it as I type.  Fred has a brother.  He and his brother were at odds and hadn’t spoken in 20 years.  TWENTY.  Not 2 (two) years.  TWENTY YEARS.  Wow, that’s a really long time!

None of us really knows when our time is going to be up.  But when you are told your time could be up a whole lot sooner than you EVER imagined and you don’t know how long you have to enjoy God’s special gift of life, I imagine it’s pretty intense.  When you sit across from a person and you wonder if you’ll get to have lunch with him again… I’m sorry but I can’t even put words on paper regarding the heaviness on my heart right now.  I keep trying but I just cry and hit delete and then type, cry some more, delete… there aren’t words for it.

Fred told me that he called his brother.  Picture that.  Picture that conversation. “Hi, bro!  I know we haven’t talked in 20 years… “.  I can’t even envision how it would have gone down but I know the outcome was that Fred and his brother did make amends. 

Fred’s dad passed away a while back.  His dad always hoped that Fred and his brother would mend their relationship.  If I could only take that moment… that few seconds when Fred spoke about his father not knowing his own sons had finally worked things out … the look in Fred’s eyes that was so painful and loud that he didn’t even have to speak for me to feel what he felt… If only I could somehow hold that instant in my hand or seal it in an envelope and pass it out to everyone else so that they could experience it and have a constant reminder like I do, now, of what’s really important. 

Fred and I talked about God and His timing of things.  It was interesting to hear Fred talk about feeling like he was finally just getting to know his wife and daughters… and PEOPLE.  He said something that surprised me.  He said he figured God had to give him cancer (even the particular cancer that was really tough to treat) because if he were given anything less ‘terminal’ then the changes he was making in his life “wouldn’t have stuck” and he’d probably go back to his “old ways”.   I find it amazing that Fred could even say that out loud.  More amazing that he knew it was true about himself. 

Fred has a friend who, for years, would talk to him about church and God.  “Why did it take me so long to get it (get his priorities straight…)? Why NOW and not sooner?” – I can hear Fred’s pondering as if we were sitting across from each other right now.  My dearest friend, Val, once explained that maybe God needs some people to take longer to catch on so they accumulate all those experiences in order to pass what was learned from them onto to someone else who’s not catching on.  I suppose that’s why some people ‘get it’ when they’re 5 while others don’t ‘get it’ until they are faced with their own mortality.  God needs people of all ages to catch on at exactly the right time… Maybe so they can have lunch with a friend and have just the right words, or look, or tears that change everything. 

Love you, Fred.  Thanks for lunch.  Next time, I’m buying.

December 2008
Holiday Rush!

One of the greatest holidays is just a few weeks away!  The town is bursting forth in full holiday attire and it feels like people are crazy with anticipation for the event.  I love it!!!

Christmas is pretty simple.   Wikipedia defines Christmas as: 

…“an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that marks and honors the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birth, which is the basis for the anno Domini system of dating, has been determined by modern historians as having occurred between 7 and 2 BC. The date of celebration is not thought to be Jesus' actual date of birth. It may have been chosen to coincide with the winter solstice, which the ancient Romans celebrated on December 25”.

Check the entire definition out here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

Runners seem like they’re always ‘going’.  You all know this, since most of you who read these Shorts are runners.  Even if you’re a ‘walker’ or a ‘jogger’, it’s likely that you’re a person who just has to keep moving most of the time.  Are you active because the doctor told you to be active or possibly because it’s your addiction?  Hey, maybe you need an excuse to counter-act the guilt from eating that extra piece of red-velvet cake (hey, mom… I’ll be home for Christmas on the 24^th so be sure to have one ready for me!!!)!  Whatever the reason, it can be a mental battle for any athlete to slow down and place workouts on the back-burner for a day or two.  Most runners only do that if they’re injured to the point where they physically can’t exercise anymore!  You KNOW it’s true! 

Christmas is such a unique time of year.  Yes, one of the greatest things we celebrate is the birth of Jesus.  In doing that, it seems like people re-evaluate things.  Many families go out of their way to be TOGETHER.  People seem more thankful for their blessings AND are more aware of others who are not so blessed.  Some people question the direction of their life while others consider their purpose in life.  Any way you look at it, Christmas has a way of evoking emotions that seem to lie dormant most of the time for so many people.

 Our society inadvertently makes many of us feel obligated to do more, go further, be better, and achieve-achieve-ACHIEVE!   Maybe this Christmas is a great time to start a new tradition?  Just cut the pace a little bit.  Take to heart a few of the Bible verses that instruct us on things like “worry” (Matt 6: 24-34), “rest” (Matt 11: 28), and ‘loving your neighbors even if they drive you nuts’ (Romans 12: 9-21).  What do you do when your family is on the verge of the major holiday argument? Eat some chocolates and then check out James 3: 1-12!  It’s so awesome that the solutions to our problems are all addressed in the Bible! It all looks so easy on paper – but so does your marathon training plan, right?  J 

We’ve been through a number of these ‘Running Shorts’ now.  Sometimes the ‘Shorts’ end up not-so-short and many times the thought of re-naming them (‘Stacey’s Long-Johns’?) has come to mind. J  This one doesn’t have much to do with running.  Maybe the point is to remind you (not that you need it, but I know I do) to treat this Christmas, this incredibly sacred holiday dedicated to the man who died so you and I could live, like the special day that it is.  What kind of fitness will you really lose by allowing yourself to enjoy all your blessings?  Eat the red velvet cake!  Sleep in!  Skip the 6am ‘Christmas Group Run’ and wake up with your family…stumble out of bed clad in your finest fuzzy bunny slippers and flannel pj’s to greet the rest of the family, including the dog!   They’ll be SO happy that you’re ‘one of them’ for a day!    Take it a step further and haul that red velvet cake down town to the homeless shelter.  I know how much I like it.  Imagine how awesome it will taste to someone who REALLY doesn’t have anything all year long!  There are so many directions this could go but I think you all get the picture.  I certainly am not intending this to be a lecture.  I just know how easily I get distracted from the things that are so important at times.  Sure, I want to stick to my training plan and of course I love to run and can’t stand missing an opportunity to do it.  So this year when you’re trying your best to fit everything in and there just isn’t time to include a workout, just give thanks for all the other things you DID have time to do.  After all, there are still 364 days for you to run throughJ. 

A very blessed and merry Christmas to ALL of you who have become my brothers and sisters this year.  I am SO thankful to know you.  Thanks to those of you who have emailed me about these articles and may God continue to bless you and your families throughout the holidays.  One reader asked about the fuzzy bunny slippers.   Plantar Bunny (left)  Fascia Bunny (right) J. 

Love from Stac.

October/November 2008
Brrrrr!!!!

Can anyone tell me what happened to summer?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller? J

At one point in our lives many of us experienced this thing called ‘summer vacation’.  The days were totally free of any obligation other than waking up whenever and doing whatever we wanted to.  There were no plans.  The days simply belonged to us and sometimes it felt like those days were the longest days ever created.  As we grew up and became old enough to work or motivated enough to take an extra class (with an ‘easier’ teacher) over summer break, the days passed even faster.  We kept getting older which meant we had to become more responsible.  And suddenly, we’re here!  We’re HERE and for so many of us, every minute of every day is jam-packed with something… with EVERYTHING! 

Runners are really intriguing.  (No offense to cyclists or other obsessed athletes, here!!!).  It’s fascinating to hear runners describe their lifestyles.  How does a single mom or dad with kids make time to raise the kids, go to work AND make it to track night- not to mention squeeze in a 19 miler on Saturday morning?  How do married people do it?  How about single people who work 10 or 12 hour days trying to get ahead or, in THIS crazy economy, just make enough to cover their bills?  Every day… all day… jam-packed.  Good grief!

There were a few track-nights over the summer when I was certain that nobody would show up.   Tornado sirens were blasting.  Storm clouds were rolling in and I-85, I-285 and I-75 were parking-lots.  Still, I’d show up at the track, barely on-time myself, and 10 runners would be gawking at me with a look of desperation that can’t be described!  We’d gather for our pre-workout blessing and literally pray for God to hold the rain until we got our ‘fix’.  Sometimes our prayers were granted.  Other times we assumed God wanted us to have a break and rest our bodies.  It was on those crazy nights that it dawned on me:  Our running workouts are our condensed adult-summer-vacations.  Running time…’workout-time’…it’s OUR time.  It’s time to tune out, find a zone far away from reality and just ‘be’ where we are.  Whether we run alone, with friends or with the trusty IPOD, when the running commences we may well have taken a long walk off a short pier and found ourselves basking happily in the warm, turquoise waters of ‘Endorphin-Island’ somewhere far, far away.  Hey!  Take me there NOW!  

With winter tapping at our doors, we’ll look for new ways to continue receiving our daily fix of summer vacation.  Many runners sign up for marathons and half-marathons that take place 3 or 4 months away.  Signed up for a ½ marathon in February?  If so, it’s a good bet that you’ll be a little more motivated to brave the 30 degree Saturday morning group runs in December and January!   Are you registered for the popular Thanksgiving Day events or Jingle-Bell races?  If not, try adding them to your schedule and you’ll likely hit the treadmill a couple times each week to maintain your fitness level for the events.  Cold weather has a way of inducing laziness.  Add the early sunsets and yummy holiday goodies (My Mom’s COOKIES!!!) to the equation and you’ve got a perfect concoction that can destroy your hard-earned summer-time fitness in just a few weeks!  Who wants THAT!?! 

So on that note, friends, I urge you to welcome the cold weather and think of it as a change of pace.  Use it as an excuse to try new workouts in order to enhance your summer vacation!  It’s a great time to experiment with your routine and find alternative methods to enhance your current fitness level.  Just think, when spring arrives, you won’t have to start from scratch!  You will actually be able to add to the great fitness you gained in the winter!  It’s like a ‘snowball’ effect!  …….ok, I know I’m not the only one who was thinking that J

 A few weeks ago I was blessed to have participated in the Blue Ridge Relay (BRR).  It’s a 208 mile running relay that takes place in the hills and valleys of the Blue Ridge Mountains.   Runners take turns completing designated distances starting just over the Virginia border and ending in Asheville, NC.  It’s not a relay for just anyone.  If you don’t mind spending two days and one night in a van with four or five other people (and the occasional dog) then it isn’t so bad!  The smell, on the other hand, well, it’s good for character-building. 

Basically, each running team is given their start-time, a map, and a wrist-band that must be passed to the next runner in the relay at specific checkpoints/transition zones.  Example:  John runs the first leg of the race while the rest of the apostles drive a van to the next transition zone 5 miles (give or take) away.  Peter gets out of the van and into the transition zone with a map for his leg of the race… John comes running into the zone, gives his wristband to Peter, then the apostles load up in the van and go to the next checkpoint where Matthew gets into position and waits for Peter to pass off the wristband.  Each leg is different in terrain, distance and condition.  The apostles run all day and all night, taking turns until they reach their final destination.  Heaven?  Not quite!  Welcome to Asheville, North Carolina! 

A team can consist of 12 runners or less.  Twelve is ideal (each runner would complete 3 legs or roughly 17 miles total).  The Christian Runners had 10 runners, 2 volunteers and a future-guide-dog-in-training.  Because we had only 10 runners, a few of our team members had to run ‘extra’ to make up for the distances the missing 2 runners would’ve completed.   Let the festivities begin!

 We started off well.   Seventy eight teams started the event.  We were holding our own and having a great time!  We had our first ‘oops’ when one runner missed a turn and ran several miles off course.  Fortunately, she was able to get back on course and, though we’d lost several places, our runners came back fighting and by nightfall we were in a respectable position again.

I started my second leg of the race.  Enter ‘oops #2’.  I went the wrong way.  That’ll be another Running Shorts article… another day.  Let’s just say that through divine intervention I was put back on course and able to finish my leg.  My required distance was only 6 miles of running.  I went 5 miles off course.  It was a costly mistake.   Sad news:  The Christian Runners were in last place.  My heart sank when the sag-vehicle came up behind me and told me I was the last runner.  I wanted to go home.  All the hard work of my teammates before me seemed wasted.  The come-back efforts from our first mistake:  wasted.  How could this be? 

How soon do we forget the triumphs of our past in such situations?  I’m ashamed to tell you how discouraged I was after passing my wrist-band to my teammate in transition on that pitch-black night at 1:15am in the middle of ‘nowhere’.   How many races have I done in my lifetime?  More than I can count or estimate.  How many times have I been an underdog and surfaced as a champion?  Enough to know that you NEVER quit, NEVER give up, NEVER STOP PURSUING THE GOAL and NEVER EVER LOSE FAITH!  How embarrassing it is to admit that I wallowed in self-pity and reacted *almost as poorly as the day I launched my age-group medal so gracefully into a lake J just a few months ago! (see archived Running Shorts ‘The Graceful Runner’).    FOR SHAME, GIRL!  FOR SHAME!

There is something to be said for ‘over-compensation’.  I guess comparing the van-load of Christian Runners to a van-load of the twelve apostles is the only way to explain it.  If Peter screwed up his leg, I am guessing that Matthew would do everything possible to keep the apostles faithful in the rest of their journey.  Did I not believe two van-loads of ‘Christian Runners’ would do the same?  Looking back, I realize that when I came into transition in last place that night, my teammate, Heidi, was jumping up and down… all her gear was on… she had her arms extended and her voice was commanding me to give her the wrist-band.  She was so full of faith!  She had energy!  She was prepared to make a difference!   The other Christian runners were ALL there, too.  I was part of a team who refused to give up.  I had a team of OVER-compensators!  Even when I was safely back in our van, all my efforts to beat myself up and my attempts to feel like a failure were thwarted by the comments and lectures from my teammates.  They made me realize I was the only one taking on the burden of the mistake I’d made.  I was the only one refusing to forgive myself for my error.  

God’s grace, I imagine, is a billion times as awesome as my teammates grace was with me that night in Nowhere-USA.  How many times have we sinned or done something we shouldn’t have (be it on purpose or by mistake) and we ask everyone affected (including Christ) for forgiveness… however we refuse to forgive ourselves?  We refuse to accept the grace of God’s forgiveness and we allow the heaviness of our sins and past mistakes to smother us - to weigh us down and prevent us from ‘overcompensating’ in our efforts to go forward and be a greater person, greater runner, or a greater ambassador? 

There was no ‘failure’ among our team in the BRR.  We never gave up.  Even as one member lost faith, the remaining members rose up to extend grace, forgiveness, encouragement and the biggest come-back-effort I have ever been privileged to take part in.  The team’s strength was contagious and poured forth into every remaining leg of the relay.  Did we win?  No.  Did we ‘place’ in our category?  Nope.  Did we get a feature in Runner’s World for our awesome efforts?  Not this time.

Did we give up? 

Never.

Hi, again, running friends!  I normally give tips on how to train better, run smarter and race like the wind.  This edition of ‘Running Shorts’ is a bit different.  It’s not that I lack ideas.  It’s just that something is on my mind and since you’re all so well versed in our training methods so far, I thought it might be important to address the notion of grace with regards to running.

Summer Rain! 

Ok.  I’ll give a big ‘AMEN’ for the rain that is blessing our drought-plagued state every afternoon these days.  We need that!  But still, I must admit it’s just a wee bit frustrating when I am working all day and as 5pm gets closer and closer…my excitement regarding the post-work run gets greater and greater… but the sky gets darker and darker.  Funny how just as I exit my office the sky unloads royally, and DAILY!   The home-bound commute just went from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.   Grrr.  Man- I’m jonesin’ to run!  I pray a little- “Please, God- hold off on the lightning- I don’t mind the rain- just hold the lightning!”  All I can think about is my run!  I feel my feet on the road and they’re beating away the last 10 hours of work and paving the way for an extra piece of pie after dinner!  Mmmm… I love pie! 

Running destination has been reached (FINALLY!) and I sit in my car dressed and ready to enter a running-state-of-bliss.  I’m SO excited!  I tell myself ‘that lightning bolt wasn’t THAT close- maybe‘ .  But I know I’m talking nonsense in my head and it would be a mistake to get out of the car and run.  I continue to wait…and I wait…and I wait. 

How many times have I done this?  More than I can count!  Usually, it ends up the same way.  It results in a treadmill workout at the gym.  Ugghhhh!!!  It’s that one-out-of-100 times (when the rain stopped and the skies cleared to allow me the run I anticipated all day long) that keeps me sitting in my car hoping and waiting- repeating the game every afternoon like clock-work.  Silly girl!  

So, friends, it’s off to the treadmill we go!  I’ll admit, I don’t run with music but if I’m ‘stuck’ on a treadmill, the IPOD becomes my best friend and teammate.  If you haven’t tried it, I say go for it!  We’re about to engage in some great treadmill games that will give you a run for your money! (Ha, get it?  Run for…Good grief!).

You can gain a lot from the dreadmill.  Oh, pardon me!  Freudian slip, there.  I meant from the TREADmill!    It’s an excellent tool to increase your cadence (how fast your legs turn over and how many times your feet hit the ground per minute).  Having a good, efficient cadence is so important.  We’ve talked about that in prior ‘Shorts’.  If you can develop a more efficient cadence, you’ll save a ton of energy when you run.   You don’t have to set the elevation of the treadmill high to get a great workout.  Most people don’t realize this.  Try this:

Run for 10 minutes with or without elevation… just run EASY to get yourself warmed up.  When the clock hits 10 minutes make sure there is no elevation on the treadmill and start adding a little speed (really- just a little) to the workout.  Do it for 5 minutes.  Then add ‘just a little’ more speed.  Do it for 4 minutes.  A little more for 3 minutes.  More – 2 minutes. (By now in this workout, I don’t want more because I can hardly keep up!  My legs are telling me they aren’t used to going that fast!  It’s not comfortable!)  But add that last bit of speed for 1 single minute and tell yourself you can do it!  Of course, this should be done with some sort of common sense.  If you think you’re going so fast that you’ll fly right off the back of the treadmill (It hurts…especially when you’re stuck between the mill and wall behind it – not like I’ve done that myself, of course not! J ) then please re-consider you’re speed and adjust accordingly!  After that last intense minute, back the speed all the way down to where it was for your first 5 minutes and do that workout again.  Can you believe you just ran on the treadmill for 25 minutes?  I’m always surprised at how fast that time flies.  Talk about quality running!  Mix it up any way you like to get in the game.  Once you’re in a game, you’re not just passing time - you’re racing the clock and trying not to cheat yourself by quitting!  Before you know it, there’s a battle going on and when you make it through that final minute and don’t quit, you’ll have a runner’s high that rocks!  You can do this for as short or long as you like.  You can set your intervals up by time, by ‘song’ on your IPOD, or by distance.  If you want a hill workout, go ahead and amp the elevation here and there.  Anyway you mix it up will definitely break up the monotony of ‘just running’ a certain pace or time on the dreadmill.  Oops!  Did I just do that AGAIN?!?

All that said, how blessed are we that we get stuck on the treadmill in the midst of summer so that we can perfect the art and learn new games that will help us get through the dead of winter when it’s just too cold to run outside?  HA!  Did I just say ‘winter’?  Hey- It’s good to plan ahead  J.

Freaked Out!

Can you believe it’s almost the 4^th of July?  The famous Peachtree 10k Road Race is just around the corner.  Some of us have been blessed with a few good weeks of track practice and a couple of weekend ‘training races’ that will hopefully send us soaring to a PR (Personal Record) in the not so distant future.

We’ve covered lots of fun topics in these ‘shorts’.  This time, we’re covering my favorite topic.  I wish I could say I had less experience in this area, but being a Christian Runner, well, I just can’t lie!  This is a bit similar to the ‘Mental Game’ shorts I did prior to ING.  That was mostly about preparing for your races.  This ‘shorts’ will be like the ‘Mental Game’ with a twist!

Have you ever been in a race… like a 5k, for example, and everything seemed like it was going just as you’d planned?  You’re 2 miles into the race … you hear your split… you’re on target for that PR that has eluded you for over a year (or 5 or 6!).  With less than a mile to go you start getting totally overwhelmed and consumed with panic.  What’s happening?  You know you didn’t go out too fast.  You are running times that you’ve achieved in practice.  But regardless, your legs feel heavy…chest is tight…breathing is now shallow and stressed… It’s like somebody flipped a switch in your head and you basically ‘thought’ your way out of a race that was on track for the result you’d trained so hard for!  In my journals, I have unfortunately recorded several of these most unforgettable moments.  As I thumb through my entries I notice a common statement written on more than one occasion.  It says “I freaked out again”.  Good grief!  You’d think I’d get it right after the first time I did it!!! 

My favorite part of running/racing really is the workout our brains get while our bodies are in pursuit of excellence.  If I had a dime for every time I ‘thought’ myself out of a result that was physically very obtainable, I could retire at this very moment.  I would spend all of that money on a sports psychologist! 

I’ve had the great pleasure of hosting a track practice for a group of runners once a week.  At the last practice, we did an 800 (2 laps around the track) as part of our workout.  Nobody likes 800s.  They’re awful.  Our goal in the 800 is to try and run both laps at exactly the same pace OR run the second lap a second-or-two faster than the first.  Last week one of the runners commented that she could only look ahead to the person a few feet away from her because if she looked too much further ahead she would THINK about how much further she had to go and that would be it – she’d quit! Imagine!!!  Now, I know this runner well and she is definitely physically capable of running the 800 time she was attempting!  Funny- when you start thinking about the wrong things, it’s a recipe for self-sabotage! 

I can’t say enough about doing workouts that force you to ‘freak out’.  Get to know the feeling and try to understand why it happens.  Our thoughts and our focus will definitely make or break the goal we’re trying to reach.  I’m a fan of making lists and writing down what I want to accomplish.  It has been a great fix for my freaky issues.  Train your brain to be 100% focused on achieving the goal you’ve set (whether it’s just finishing the race or winning it overall!).  Before you ever set foot on the starting line, have the plan made so that when it feels like you might freak out, you’ll be able to counter that feeling and salvage your race.  Here’s an example of some things I focus on when preparing for shorter events that really force me to run outside of my comfort-zone… these are things that I KNOW I have issues with.  Yours might be different.  Put them on paper.  It will help you focus on the right things- the positive things- DURING your race. 

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I drop my shoulders.  Why?  Because my lower body does what my upper body does!  Tight upper body means tight lower body!  Relaxed upper body means relaxed lower body which will perform much better!

I run mile 1 at EXACTLY the time I predicted and not faster.

I run in the moment – I only care about each mile as I’m running it. 

Breathe...relax.

Look up!  (at the horizon or the shoulders of the person 10 feet away from me).

So to all of you who have emailed me for Peachtree 10k training advice and 5k race tips, this is for you!  These shorter races have a way of tricking all of us into feeling like we’re unstoppable in the first mile or two.   Let’s try to trick ourselves into running like we know we can when we’re day-dreaming about it at work!  It’s a delicate balance of pace and focus.  Try not to forget that running is such an awesome gift and no matter how bad it gets, we’re still blessed that we can do it.  God doesn’t care if we PR… Often times I think He’s more interested in our reactions when we don’t do well or if we have a bad day.   I’ve been humbled a time or two in that area... ok… way more than a time-or-two.

Race your way to a PR!   5/20/08

Welcome to Spring, everyone!  It’s finally warm.  The big bonus is that we’ve got ample DAYLIGHT!  Let the over-training begin!  KIDDING!   With the warm weather finally here, so is the blessing of more 5k and 10k weekend races than we can even comprehend.  Marathon season has come and gone (can I get an “AMEN”, anyone??) and now we welcome the short and sweet races that seem so easy when you’re just ‘thinking’ about them.  You can’t imagine the number of emails I’ve received from people asking me what the best way to PR (Personal Record) in these distances is!  Hey, ME TOO!  I’ve asked myself that question once or twice. 

I promised shorter ‘Running Shorts’ – so here it is!

I’m a fan of using races to get better at races.   For those of you who aren’t as blessed as I am to have people show up to run with you at the track once a week, you need to find a way to get yourself to run faster than you ever would if you were doing a speed-oriented workout by yourself.  Ask ANY of my Tuesday night track buddies if they’d really run that last 600 of the scheduled workout if they were alone and the answer would probably be “NO WAY”!  Hey, I would- but I’d shorten my 600 to a 200 instead.  Yeah- I’m not afraid to admit I’m a slacker when I’m hurtin’! It’s HARD to run outside your comfort zone!  It’s even harder to do that when you’re alone.  Don’t run alone!  Get out there and take advantage of those $12 and $15 5k and 10k events on the weekends!   Many of them are for really great causes, too!  Strapped for cash?  Many promoters will let you race for FREE if you VOLUNTEER at the event!  Free???  Yes, FREE!  Just a thought!  It certainly can’t hurt to ask, anyway. 

Back to the point… How would I ‘race’ myself to a PR?

Think of everyone’s favorite upcoming 10k Classic (Peachtree).  Let’s say you’re looking to run your fastest 10k ever and you want to do it at that race.  Instead of just training for a couple months and planning only to race in that event, pick 2 5k races and 2 10k races about 2 weeks apart from eachother.  Use them to get yourself to run faster than you’re used to running when you run alone.  You’ll gain so much from this!  You’ll know where your fitness level stands from the first 5k (“Yikes- I forgot how bad a 5k hurts!”).  You can set a little goal for the next 5k (“I went faster but remember, now, why anaerobic is no fun at all and suddenly I miss marathon training!”).  You’ll take that first 10k and remind your body of how to pace itself and how to recover if you’ve gone out too fast (“Uh, I meant to do that…”).  You’ll take the last 10k and experiment with what you learned in the 2 5k races and prior 10k race (“Wait, how many miles is a 10K again??”).  It’s perfect practice for the BIG event where you won’t be surprised at how it feels to run outside your comfort zone because you’ve already done it in ‘REAL’ race situations.  Remember that deal about doing your homework?  Yes – familiarity is the key to succeeding because you’ll know exactly what to expect and you will have trained yourself to react accordingly under pressure.  Hey- why not go out and screw up your race when it DOESN’T count!  You’ll get faster… you’ll see all your friends, maybe win a cool prize in a raffle (one time I won a $400.00 hammock- It’s still in my parents garage!)- and don’t forget those fancy shirts you get just for entering the races!  Even small events usually have fun post-race festivities!  It’s a recipe for a PR.  Of course, you have to train in-between the ‘training-races’ or you probably won’t see a ton of improvement…but we can talk about that in the next short Running Shorts J.   Anyone need a hammock?

It seems appropriate to look at the 10% Rule because so many of us are newer/novice runners training for longer events right now.  The rule applies to short distance runners, also, so don't feel left out if you aren't training for a 1/2 or full marathon!

There are two great ways to help your body adapt to the new demands you're placing on it.  The first option (and the hardest one for impatient people like myself to commit to...) is called the '10% Rule'.  I didn't make this up.  I just follow the rule because I got tired of being injured.  The rule is not new among runners and you may have read about it in a running magazine or on one of the local running store's e-letters.

A common mistake many novice (and some just plain stubborn) runners make is increasing their distance (or speed) too quickly.  This reminds me of the first day back at the gym when you haven't done squats in 6 months:  "I feel GREAT, man!  Yeah!  I haven't lost any fitness... I'll do another set of 20 squats.  Yeah!  That feels AWESOME!  I ROCK!"  We all know what happens the next day.  You can't walk, sit, stand, put your pants on like normal people or climb up a set of stairs without feeling like you were hit by a truck!

This same concept works with running.  Running requires patience and discipline.  When you do too much too fast, you risk injury or you're forced to take more unexpected time off to recover.  If you can stick to the 10% rule, you are a patient and disciplined individual!  Gold star for you!  Here's how it works:  Increase your distance or speed by about 10% each week.  Some more 'seasoned' runners will say 10-15% is fine but if you're fairly new to distance running then err on the side of caution and be good to yourself by allowing an increase of only 10% or less.  Increase distance incrementally for 3 to 4 weeks and then back down for a week.

Let's look at an example:  You're training for your first marathon.  Your longest run (to date) was last Saturday morning (10 miles).  This Saturday increase your distance by 10% over the distance you did last Saturday.  10% / 10 miles = 1 mile.  So this Saturday add 1 mile to your run (run 11 miles).  Next Saturday take 10% / 11 miles, which = 1.1 miles...so you add 1.1 miles to your run (run 12.1 miles).  I like to do this for 3 weeks and then take the 4th week back down to a shorter run.  Some runners even build up for 4 weeks and then back down.   Pay attention to your speed, also, as the same rule applies.

This is just one way to help your body gradually adapt to the stresses of distance running or running faster paces without getting injured or even burned out.  Your legs will stay happy, your feet will stay happy and, best of all, your mind will stay happy!

The second great way to help your body adapt is through cross-training.  Tune into our next issue for some helpful suggestions for cross-training your way to your next PR!