A Color(ful) Run

 

The 5K Crew (minus Leigh Anne)

When the 5k Crew started back on September 1st, we weren't sure when we'd run our first 5k together, but wanted to look around and find something fun. We all agreed that the "official" Color Run was too far for all of us (it was taking place about 1.5 hours from here), but we were delighted to find a local Color Run here in Suwanee. We all signed up and started preparing for our 1st 5k together.

When I got up Saturday morning, it was not only cold, but raining. YAY!! I got in the shower and put extra conditioner in my hair (as suggested by another Color Runner's blog) so that it'd be easier to get any color out after. We left here at 6:55 and arrived at Peachtree Ridge High School at 7:15.

I met Ann and Lesley in the parking lot and then we connected with Stacey and her family. We all walked to the field together and checked in.

We stood there for about 45 minutes and tried to figure our what the plan was. There had not been ay route posted online, and we were praying that we wouldn't be running the whole thing on the track. It was the 1st time that PRHS was hosting this, and of course, there were snafus to be expected.

Jo and Jackie arrived and the group was all there. We took a few "before" shots and then it was time for the warm up exercises.

They had us walk to the track and immediately people were wondering what was going on. To say it was unorganized is an understatement. We were all just standing on the track waiting for directions.

 
All of a sudden, someone comes on the speaker and tells us that we're going to run two laps and then start the route. Instantly, people started running. This goes against how I've been training. I'm used to walking for 5 to warm up and then run. I'm on week 6 day 3 of C25K and I was going to use Saturday as another training day.

As people started to run and pass us, I said I wanted to do my 5 minute warm up. We got around the track and then about to head onto the course and Ann and I had to use the bathroom (BAD timing). We hurried into the porta potties and then quickly tried to get caught up, but by that point, we were waaaaaaaaay behind the crowd.

There were some areas that were uphill and it made it more tiring to complete... but I did it. As we continued through the course, I kept thinking, "WHERE'S THE COLOR?!?!?"

When we got to the first color station, it had started to rain.

I was tired at the first mile. I told Lesley, "Maybe I'm not cut out for 5ks..." I just wanted to stop, but I knew we had to keep going. My knee had been hurting a few days before the race, and it was really throbbing as I was running. We ended up walking a lot.

We made it around the course one time and I saw my dad, Steve, and Gus and then Lesley saw Jason and Logan. It was hard to know that we still had so far to go, but it was a great feeling to know that we were over 1/2 way done.

In fact, they had us run the track for a 1/2 mile for nothing. When the whole thing was over, instead of being 3.1 miles, it was 3.44. The lap around the track could have been eliminated.

Anyway... they had a lot of water stations which was nice, and it was fun to go through the color stations. Being hit with color while running was more enjoyable than I had expected. It was fun to see everyone else running with their bodies covered in various colors.

 They gave everyone sunglasses... good thing! They helped protect the eyes from the color!

My dad captured the color explosion at the finish line!!

Jo, Jackie, and Stacey

Coming out of the first lap

I can't say enough about Lesley. She stuck by me through the entire thing and every time I was discouraged or complaining, she helped get me refocused and positive. She totally could have left me in the dust, but she didn't. :-)

We met back up with Ann and she ran the last lap with us and we all crossed the finish line together. We didn't come in 1st, but we didn't come in last either. 

When we finally did finish, it was an amazing feeling to be DONE!!!

Stacey, Jackie, and Jo coming into the finish

Crossing the finish line and getting their color

Us coming into the finish

Ready for an explosion

YAHOO!!!

We did it!!

We finished under an hour! I had wanted to finish faster than the 5k on the 5th and I did. My official finish time was 57 minutes!

I am so happy to have made the friends that I've made. I don't LOVE running (yet) and I still don't consider myself a runner. I'd like to build up enough endurance to actually RUN an entire 5k and not run/walk like I've had to do. I just don't have it yet, but I'm doing better than I ever have. 

I'm so happy that Steve and the boys came to watch me finish, and it was even more awesome to have my dad there. He's been such a big supporter since I started running last year. I am glad that he was able to come to see me actually run a 5k and he took a ton of pictures. I hope I made him proud.

I was not emotional at all when finishing. I'm glad I ran the Emory 5k and had that first experience to draw upon. I think I was so emotional with that one because it was the first, and I did something that I didn't think I'd ever do. While I didn't run the entire thing, I did run a lot of it, and I finished and didn't give up.

I had a great time running the Color Run and look forward to running the Turkey Trot with my cousin, my older brother, and my dad. Should be very memorable and even more awesome because I'm running with family.

For everyone that's been reading and supporting me, I can't thank you enough. There are plenty of times when I feel like giving up and I feel like a failure, but your words of encouragement keep me going and help get me back to a good place.

Admit it, you missed me!

Guess what? I think I'm ready to register for my very first 5K!! Don't get too excited yet, I haven't been running in quite a while (it's been so frigging hot here, and Steve's morning routine changed and I'd have to get up extra early or run with Gus mid-morning- neither were options I was willing to do). However, it's cooling off and once Steve gets back from London, we've talked about training for a 5K after dinner/before bed.

So this morning I was looking through my email and I saw something about registration opening today for the Johns Creek "Night of the Running Zombies 5K Run." I immediately got excited about it and looked at the website to see more information. Here's the cool part: it takes place at 7pm. I think it sounds so fun!

I've sent an email to a few of my friends to see if they'd be interested in joining me and hopefully some will. Lesley said she'll think about it and she said she's not up for running it, but she'd walk it. I emailed Steve to see if he wanted to do it with me and maybe we could bring Gus. I don't know if it'd be too scary for him (probably not). We can put him in the jogging stroller and he won't even notice what's going on around him.

So that's the latest. I am excited about it and hoping that at least one other person will want to run it with me. I am not ready to run the full 5K, but I know I can do the run/walk combo for sure. It might take me an hour to do it, but I know I can do it. All my training runs were over 1.5 miles and it took me about 30 minutes to do them. I'm pretty certain I can double it.

The best part of this race is you have to specify if you'll be running as a zombie or as a human. The humans start the race and two minutes later, the zombies begin (as if the zombies are chasing the humans). You're not allowed to touch anyone (thankfully) so there's no real chase happening, but it seems like a lot of fun. I will be running as a zombie. What fun is it to run as a human??? LOL

I'll keep everyone posted on things... it's less than a month away, and I've got until the 15th to register and pay the lowest registration fee. Hopefully Steve will want to do it too and we can do our first 5K together!!

Blah.

This picture is my current motivation. I don't want to die young and I want to live a healthy, productive life. I want Gus to see that I'm active and exercising.


This morning was hard. I did NOT want to wake up. While getting up at 5:15 for a 5:30 run has so many more advantages than running at 9:00, it's still REALLY HARD to get up so early. 


I didn't want to wake up and Steve was so supportive and really pushed me/motivated me to get up and get going. As I headed out the door, I was still 1/2 asleep, which led to me not "feeling it" today.


I guess some days are good and some are bad. My knees started to hurt while I was running today, and I missed the first 1.5 minute run so it screwed up my entire morning run. I was sluggish and slow and had a lot of negative thoughts going through my head.


I've said it before, 99% of running is mental. Today wasn't a good day mentally. 


I'm now super tired and just want to crawl back into bed. Fortunately, today we have no plans and I can just loaf around if I want. I think I will. 

A Hard Run

Today was rough.

Instead of waking around 5:15 and having some time to stretch, get ready, WAKE UP... Steve's alarm woke both of us from a deep sleep at 5:30. By the time I actually knew what was going on, it was 5:35 and I needed to get out of bed.

My iPhone running band came yesterday, so I was excited to have it this morning for my run. I loaded my phone and headed out. 

I was pleasantly surprised at how cool it was when I started my warm-up. I think it was like 62 or something like that, which is so much better than 80.  :-)

I had to change my route a bit to make sure that I was getting enough distance in, but this morning it didn't matter. I was going so slow... and it's a miracle that I was able to complete the whole workout without cheating or stopping. 

I know that 99% of what I face is mental. However, my legs were like cement again and when this happens, it's so hard to push through the pain. It's days like today that I feel discouraged and upset with my weight and curse myself for not losing more and not dropping the weight faster.

But a few things happened during my run that actually made me proud of myself. First, When I got to the first 1.5 minute run, it seemed like it was over in a blink. Now, you might not think this is a big deal, but not too long ago, I was DYING trying to run 1.5 minutes. This morning, it was cake. I felt like I was just getting started and then it was time to walk.

I was able to run all morning without looking at my phone to see how much I had left to endure. This is a milestone for me. I was just running and trying to enjoy it.  ;-)

I found myself able to focus on my breathing today and it helped with keeping me going. I tried to push myself to go faster today as well. It didn't pan out too well, but I tried. It was so hard though.

I was able to get home and had a few minutes to spare before Steve had to leave. I was so worried that I'd make him late for leaving for work because I didn't get started with my run until 5:40.

I got in the shower and then laid down and I fell asleep. It was an hour of peace and tranquility and it made my whole day better. As someone who is NOT a morning person, the nap after my run and shower was the best thing ever.

When I woke up to Gus talking to himself, I decided to bite the bullet and do my weigh-in. To my utter surprise, I lost another pound! I'm now down nine pounds!! I'm very excited about it AND today was my cheat day (not calorie counting today). Not only did I not have to worry about calories at Christy's when we had a potluck lunch (always so hard), but we went to Outback to celebrate Father's Day... AND we went to DQ after for dessert!! So many good things in one day!!

I'm eager to take the weekend off and relax, and then I'll be back to running on Monday. I'll be finishing week 3 day 3, and then I'll be repeating again until I feel comfortable running three minutes. I'm scared for week 4-- it's running for 3 minutes, walking for 1.5, running for 5 minutes, walking for 2.5, running for 3 minutes, walking for 1.5 minutes, running for 5 minutes and the 5 minute cool-down.

I Did It!

Seriously.

If I had known last night that I'd be getting up at 5:15 to prepare for a run, I would have come to bed at 9:30 instead of at 11:30.

I had no intentions of running today. After all, it IS Tuesday and those of you who know me well, know that I run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So when I woke at 5am to use the bathroom, I was certain that it was 2 or even 3 am, but it was 5.

Hmmmm.

So I crawled back into bed and ran over various thoughts, and decided to prepare myself mentally to go run. Toady was going to be the start of my new week on C25K and as eager as I was to test it out and see how it felt, it was a bit scary too. Could I really run for three straight minutes? And could I do it twice???

Steve got up at 5:20 and I took that as my cue. As he was getting into the shower, I stepped out the front door. No turning back.

It was DARK. I mean, REALLY dark. We live in a very safe place, so I wasn't worried about safety at all, but the encompassing darkness sent my senses reeling.

Today was full of a lot of firsts for me:

• First time running at 5:30am
• First time running in my neighborhood (with LOTS of hills-- versus the flat greenway)
• First time running in the dark
• First time running with music (YAY)
• First time doing week 3 of the C25K program
• First time running ALONE. COMPLETELY alone.

That's a lot of firsts for one run don't you think? 

I have to say, I love running with Pilar and Christy, but there was something wonderful about running by myself. I thoroughly enjoyed my music and letting the beat of my songs motivate me to run faster (and I do believe I ran faster today). I also didn't have to push a stroller AND a squirmy 30 pound toddler!

While I was running in the dark, a strange sense of calm came over me. I said a prayer before starting out this morning, and asked God to help make this a good run for me. There's nothing worse than a bad run and feeling like you've got legs like cement and no strength and no motivation.

Today was good. I really enjoyed myself (weird right???). I could hear my dad asking me, "Did you run today?" and having to answer him. Sometimes the pressure is a lot to deal with, but I am so grateful for all the people that keep me accountable, AND encourage and motivate me.

There's no way I'm going to do a 5K if I don't train for it. There's no way I'm going to lose weight, if I don't move my body. So getting out and actually moving isn't an option, I simply MUST stay focused and must stay determined. With family and friends taking a keen interest in my running, it's helped tremendously.

SO back to me and my run...  ;-)

I really liked this week's training. I started with the five minute walk (it's standard for every week of the program) and by the time I got to the sidewalk around the corner, I was breathing really heavy (I had to go uphill to get to the sidewalk). Then I walked downhill to Sargent road. 

Now... I had previously mapped out my run (not very well apparently), and throught if I made it all so the uphill was at the beginning, it'd be perfect to end with going downhill. Perfect logic right??

Well... my logic was correct, but my speed and timing was not so great. It took the five minute warm-up to reach Sargent and I headed toward Jones Bridge Road. I passed one runner, but other than that, the road was very empty and I was alone with the darkness. It was interesting.

The stretch along Sargent is relatively flat and even, and I was able to do my 1.5 minute run, 1.5 minute walk, and 3 minute run. I finished the run as I approached my turn and then it was uphill for a bit, but I was in the 3 minute walk part. Here's where the problem happened.

I was almost home.

So... I was 1/2 done with my run and almost home. No bueno.

I decided to turn around, and go back the way I came. Which would have been great, if it weren't for the damn hills. LOL

So I started my next 1.5 minute run and then 1.5 minute walk and I was back on Sargent for my 3 minute run. I reached the entrance to my sub and still had a 3 minute walk to complete and the 5 minute cool-down walk. I didn't think I'd have enough pavement to complete my run, and I wouldn't have, if it weren't for the damn hills.

Holy smokes. My three minute walk at the end was all uphill and what took two minutes to walk down, took the full three minutes to walk up and another two minutes of my cool-down. It was, in a word, a BITCH.

I had a downhill walk to my street, and then as my street curves to my house, there's a gradual incline. Not much if you're in a car, but when you're at the end of a run, it was almost a killer. Then the cherry on top is the steepness of my driveway. I had to mentally push myself as I took each step up my driveway-- it was rough!!

I completed just under a mile and a half and didn't skimp AT ALL on my running times. I am SO proud of myself. I was a sweaty beast when I was done, but I finished it and at 6:10 I was sitting down with Steve and enjoying a bowl of Cheerios. 

So my run for the day is done and I feel great. It's 7:14 and I've showered, I'm blogging, Gus is still sleeping, and my day has started. It's awesome.

For as hard as it was to wake at 5am to run, I'm so glad that I did. I'm definitely a fan of running without pushing the stroller and having to worry about Gus. Running this morning was "me time" and I really enjoyed being at one with myself and just taking in all the sights around me. I didn't have to talk to anyone, and I was able to just focus on my breathing.

Today I burned 451 calories. My max heart rate was 167 and my average was 126. I was "in the zone" for 25 minutes (I ran for 30). I'm impressed!

I'm eager to do nothing for the rest of the day and lounge around in my comfy clothes.

It's fine... I ran today.

:-)