Practice #5: Seventy Five Minutes

We have come to our last day of timed runs. Next practice starts the mileage. I'm excited and nervous, but this week was a big week. For several reasons.

First of all, I went to Run With Us Thursday morning and was fitted for some insoles. Now, I've had orthotics suggested to me, but I have a good reason for being iffy on those. I don't have pain every moment of every day. If simple walking were painful, I would consider them, but since the pain is only during running, there's really no reason for them. I tried a few and ended up with a pair of Superfeet. Thursday night, when I went for my run, there was some pain, but it was so minimal compared to everything I've felt that I hesitate to call it pain. Either way, I was able to actually run one-one intervals!

I cried at the end of the workout because I realized I can really do this.

Saturday morning, when we met, it was freezing. I kept moving with a patch of sun, desperate to stay in it, as evidenced by my different positions in these photos.

We got updated on our team fundraising total. (Hopefully, Tink will be all the way at the top by the end of the season.)

Then, the mission moment was mine to give. Since my friend Katie is a leukemia survivor, she is my honored teammate. I was worried I would start crying while I told her story, but luckily I was able to get through it without any tears. (Afterward, our LLS chapter head, Sarah, told me she knew the type of leukemia Katie had and started crying, thinking I was giving an "In Memoriam" moment.)

Practice #4: Sixty Minutes

We had a change of scenery this week. Some sort of snowboarding thing was going on at the Rose Bowl. (Snow?? In Southern California?!) I don't know what it was, but it meant we ended up at Hahamongna Park. I never even knew this place existed, but it is gorgeous.

Unfortunately, it was miserably cold. And that means uncooperative muscles, despite our attempts to warm up. Still, the new scenery was distracting, at least for a little bit.

I was determined to stay in my pace group. I wanted to keep up with Gaily and Janet. It was not to be. Even after walking for a bit, once the intervals started, so did the pain. I tried to just run through it, hoping some sort of runner's high would kick in, but it never did. Gradually, I fell further and further behind, and it took everything in me just to keep walking.

But I was determined. I was going to walk as fast as I could and do the entire sixty minutes.

Practice #3: Fifty Minutes

This week we were set to run for fifty minutes. But we did our little meeting first. I won a raffle for a donation from teammate Ana, but I won because I was the only person who sent in honored teammate information. So . . . yay me!

Let me preface this picture with the fact that I am not a morning person and I'm usually struggling to come to full awareness during the meetings in the morning. Hence my confused face and atrocious posture.

Next came the mission moment. Erin shared her dad's story. Luckily, he is a survivor and she gets to run in the hopes that, someday, a little girl doesn't have to go through the horror she did at learning her dad had cancer. We got to add his name to our collection of ribbons.

Practice #2: Pace Groups

Big shock: I was put in the last pace group. I'm beyond the point where I feel bad about being slow. At least there's nowhere to go but up, right?

We started with the usual update and mission moment from Coach Gaily. I love the mission moments and the fact that we wear ribbons for each person's story we hear. When I feel like what I'm doing is impossible or I'm feeling sorry for myself, I look at those ribbons and remember the cause I'm running for. Cliche, I know. Or when I ask Katie (my honored teammate) why I'm doing this, she tells me it's because I love her. It's nice to get those reminders when I need them.

After that, the owner of Run With Us in Pasadena spoke to us about gear we need for this journey. (If you've never been to the store, go. They know their stuff. And they're super nice!) I had been to see them a couple months before so I could get a pair of running shoes that fit my gait. Next thing I know, I'm adding a second pair of shoes and a water belt to my mental list of things I will need before the season is over.

On the walk from our meeting place to the Rose Bowl loop, I was trying to keep pace with the front of the group and a teammate I was conversing with. I could feel my shins start to ache. In the back of my mind, I heard a little voice berating my need to push myself, but I shushed it and continued on my way.

Practice #1: Pace Assessment, Also Known As Hell

I know, I know. I'm behind on my posts. But I do have a good reason! Basically, Facebook marked sharing my fundraiser page as spam and disabled my account. I've spent the last two, almost three, weeks sending at least five "Contact Us" forms a day since just emails can't get through, nor is there a phone number to reach because Facebook is such a "small" company that their meager number of employees can't handle dealing with users on a personal basis. I kid you not, that is their reasoning. Hopefully everything will be sorted soon.

So what does a Saturday morning practice look like?

Well, it starts with me rolling out of bed at 6:30 in the morning. That in itself is a miracle because I am not a morning person. Still, I made it on time to the Rose Bowl and proceeded with all that fun first day, meet everyone, finalize everything stuff.

Now, every morning has a similar structure. Everyone checks in and then we gather around to discuss what needs to be discussed. The first week, it was meeting the staff, who were all once participants like us. Then, we hear from someone on the team who and what their connection to the cause is. After they share that, we all get a ribbon with the honored teammate's name on it. And we wear them all season. The idea is that we have more and more reasons to fund raise for cancer research and to keep running. These moments have never failed to bring tears to my eyes and wearing those ribbons truly does remind me why I am doing this. I can't wait to have all of them at the end of the season.