This weekend I ran my very first race ever. It was a 5K that was held in conjunction with the Salt Lake marathon. I originally decided to do this because my sister was doing it with her family. I thought it'd be fun to go run the race with my sister. (I use the term run loosely- we actually planned on walking the whole thing with her two youngest kids- 7 and 11 years old.)
The race ended up being MUCH different than I planned. Instead of walking with my sister, I ran it with her 11 year old daughter. Kierstin didn't want to walk- she wanted to run. So I ran with Kierstin and Heidi walked with Jaydin. Kierstin and I made pretty good time, too. In the end, we made the whole thing in less than 45 minutes. We did walk more than half of it, but we ran/sprinted at least 1 mile of it, and maybe closer to a 1 and 1/2 miles of it. I was so excited for the accomplishment of having my first race be a success. Not only did I finish it, but I actually did a better time than I'd done in training.
I learned many lessons from this experience. I'll outline only the ones I felt were most important. First and foremost, I did this because of my sister. Heidi inviting me to run this with her really changed my life for the better. I initially decided to train for it because I didn't want my 7 year old nephew to be running circles around me while the medical personnel had to carry me away... I knew we were going to walk. But as I trained for this, I discovered an amazing thing. I ENJOYED it. (I know- creepy.. :D) I never in my life thought I'd enjoy running. And yes, I haven't run tons. I mostly walk fast so far. But I'm building endurance and speed as I continue training. I've wanted to lose weight for a couple years. Because my sister invited me to run with her, not only did I find a new hobby, I have started losing a little weight. Lesson? Surround yourself with good people who inspire you to be better. We don't have time in life for those who try to get us to do things that aren't good for us or that want us to compromise our standards and integrity.
As my sister and her kids started walking across the starting line with me, we were doing our best to walk fast, but we weren't making any serious effort to run. Then Kierstin wanted to run, so I ran with her. Kierstin and I would run for as long as we could, and then we'd walk for a while. When we'd rested a bit, we'd run as long as we could. Because so many other pairs were doing the same thing, we had several pairs of runners that we kept leap-frogging. They'd run past us, then we'd run past them. One of these pairs appeared to be a husband-wife team. Apparently the husband was a better runner than the wife, because I over heard some of his comments as we past them. She was saying that she wanted to but her body just wouldn't. I assume she meant run rather than walk, but I can only assume. His comment back really influenced my attitude the rest of the race. I can't remember his exact words. But he basically told her she could do it because she could have her mind overpower her body. From they way they past us several times, I think it's safe to assume that he was right. Another time when we passed this couple, I heard him telling her, "I'm not leaving you- we are running this TOGETHER." This taught me a very important lesson. Mind really can overpower body. I'm not saying you can tell yourself you aren't sick and just not be sick magically. But we can overcome cravings, appetites, habits, etc. And to repeat what I said above, surrounding ourselves with people who will be a support system and lift us up is invaluable with this.
The last thing I learned was simply that hard work really does pay off. I decided to train for this race. Yes, I went as fast as I was capable of, and it wasn't the greatest time in reference to all the other runners I was up against. But it was the best I could possibly do, and it really made me feel good about myself to do it. In fact, at the end, I had extra energy. (I couldn't have kept running, but because I trained and worked and prepared, I wasn't dead at the end, either.)
I had such a good experience that I'm hoping to do more races this year. :)
Work hard and prepare. It pays off!
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
The Trail
On Saturday, I went for a walk/run along the biking trail near our house. These trails are paved and run all through the St. George area. I joined this one at the park near our house and followed it up the park and then alongside highway. My original intent of this walk was simply to take the trail up across the busy Parkway above our house and see where it went beyond that. I'd seen it from the road, but didn't know where it went. I have decided to train myself to be a runner, and I hoped this could be a safe route for me run on.
As I walked along this bike trail, I was truly struck by the beauty. The first little bit of the trail felt straight up. I probably don't want to know just how steep it was. I could see how steep it was from the bottom of the hill, and originally planned just to see where it went when you got to the top. I thought I was going to DIE going up the hill. But when I got to the top... it was beautiful. (It was also flat, which helped my overall sentiment.)
I decided to map out a 5k instead of just seeing where the trail went after the hill. I walked along this trail for a couple miles. The red bluffs were the backdrop. I realized the trail was skirting the outside of Snow Canyon State Park. A breeze was blowing, bringing with it the sweet smell of wildflowers. The red dirt was splattered with light green of the sage and scrub. Occasional flowers of fire orange dotted the scene. It was mesmerizing.
As I walked along this trail, I was taken back about 7 years to when Scott and I had been married for just a couple months. We drove from Salt Lake City, where we were living at the time, to St. George to visit Scott's parents. They had taken us to Snow Canyon State Park. I remember standing at the top of the red bluff looking down over the canyon and thinking, "I could learn to love this place." We hadn't made the choice to move to St. George yet, but looking over that bluff, I KNEW we would be moving there. It wasn't a hope or desire, it was knowledge that I was looking out over my future home.
And here I was, walking along the same state park, looking over the same bluff and canyon, realizing how much I've come to love this place.
I loved the walk so much, I went a 5k and THEN turned around- making my trip a 10k instead. This also got me thinking about life. A lot of times, we see where we are going. We know the destination, even if we don't know how we are going to get there. Sometimes we forget those moments of clarify- until future times when we suddenly look back and realize we made it there.
I also learned a lot about perspective. The distance going OUT felt a lot different than the distance coming back. The reason? Going out it was a lot of steep uphill. The trip up these hills was slow and painful. Coming back I discovered that I can run a 9 minute mile when it's straight down hill. I ran all the down hill stretches, and made the trip back in just over half the time it took me to go out. Life also has uphill and downhill stretches. I think the main thing in life is to make sure that we run in those downhill stretches. The speed and distance really make us feel good, and it makes the whole journey feel better- even with the harder times.
Just some thoughts. :)
As I walked along this bike trail, I was truly struck by the beauty. The first little bit of the trail felt straight up. I probably don't want to know just how steep it was. I could see how steep it was from the bottom of the hill, and originally planned just to see where it went when you got to the top. I thought I was going to DIE going up the hill. But when I got to the top... it was beautiful. (It was also flat, which helped my overall sentiment.)
I decided to map out a 5k instead of just seeing where the trail went after the hill. I walked along this trail for a couple miles. The red bluffs were the backdrop. I realized the trail was skirting the outside of Snow Canyon State Park. A breeze was blowing, bringing with it the sweet smell of wildflowers. The red dirt was splattered with light green of the sage and scrub. Occasional flowers of fire orange dotted the scene. It was mesmerizing.
As I walked along this trail, I was taken back about 7 years to when Scott and I had been married for just a couple months. We drove from Salt Lake City, where we were living at the time, to St. George to visit Scott's parents. They had taken us to Snow Canyon State Park. I remember standing at the top of the red bluff looking down over the canyon and thinking, "I could learn to love this place." We hadn't made the choice to move to St. George yet, but looking over that bluff, I KNEW we would be moving there. It wasn't a hope or desire, it was knowledge that I was looking out over my future home.
And here I was, walking along the same state park, looking over the same bluff and canyon, realizing how much I've come to love this place.
I loved the walk so much, I went a 5k and THEN turned around- making my trip a 10k instead. This also got me thinking about life. A lot of times, we see where we are going. We know the destination, even if we don't know how we are going to get there. Sometimes we forget those moments of clarify- until future times when we suddenly look back and realize we made it there.
I also learned a lot about perspective. The distance going OUT felt a lot different than the distance coming back. The reason? Going out it was a lot of steep uphill. The trip up these hills was slow and painful. Coming back I discovered that I can run a 9 minute mile when it's straight down hill. I ran all the down hill stretches, and made the trip back in just over half the time it took me to go out. Life also has uphill and downhill stretches. I think the main thing in life is to make sure that we run in those downhill stretches. The speed and distance really make us feel good, and it makes the whole journey feel better- even with the harder times.
Just some thoughts. :)
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