First Race of the Year

Greetings to our blog fan(s).  We've had some wonderful weather here in DFW which has really helped with training. I am currently gearing up for my first race of the new year. I"ll be running the Cowtown as a 10k with a good friend.

While I have run 10Ks before, this race has been a particularly fun endeavor because I am getting to see my friend find the joy and satisfaction of training for your first race. It will be her first race ever, so I have had the pleasure of running with her on her first training runs. It is fun to watch her fall in love with running.

I can't wait to cross the finish line with her at the end of February.

After the Cowtown race I'll be headed to Austin in March for the Zooma Women's Half Marathon, and then to DC for the Nike's Women's Half.

 I'm sensing a bit of a "girl power" theme to my running in 2013. So,  with that I say.... Throw your hands up at me!

Ballet...for cross-training?

Almost 10 years ago I had a major abdominal surgery to treat my carcinoid cancer. I had a 60% liver resection,  gallbladder removal, radio-frequency ablation of a bunch of tumors, and biopsies of portions of my small and large intestines. I was so fortunate that my cancer was operable, and as I come close to my 10 year survivor mark, I am feeling healthy and happy.

Since the surgery required an almost 14 inch incision right under my rib cage,  I was left with essentially no feeling in my upper abdomen. It has made any sort of core work a pretty tricky endeavor. I have tried Pilates  yoga, personal training (with 2 different trainers), crossfit, P90X, Bob Green's Total Body Makeover, standing ab routines, Zumba, boot camp, and stability ball class all with the effort of trying to regain sensory and motor control over my abdomen. I can say it has certainly improved over time, but nothing has produced dramatic results. 

One day last year I had the idea of trying ballet as an option for cross training. Ballet dancers seem to have pretty rockin' bods, and the cute clothing and pinkness fit my number one criteria for starting a workout program. This fall 3 of my friends and I enrolled in an adult ballet class, and I have to say it has really changed my body and my core! The slow concentrated effort on the upper body, along with precise directives from a pro ballet teacher were exactly what I needed. On the third class the teacher approached me and adjusted my rib cage to the more ballet friendly form, and suddenly I felt my abs engage! 10 years of trying, and it took a ballet teacher 3 classes to get my core going. Never saw that coming.  Each class I do, I feel more and more control over my abs. 

In addition to the obvious breakthrough in my core, I am pleased to say that the stretching and barre work have been an excellent compliment to running. My hips feel so much better, and my stride has improved with my increase in flexibility. I have added 2 days a week of ballet to my workout routine this year, and couldn't be happier to dance my way into my 10 year cancerversary! 

Running Confession

Confession: I never time my runs, and I don't care how fast I run at a race.



Don't get me wrong, I am a perfectionist to the core. I am competitive at nearly everything I do (even tailgating...which reminds me, I need to get to thinking on how we can have a better setup next season. Other tailgates around us had way better decor..but I digress).  Perfectionism is a blessing in some cases, but can really be a party pooper when it comes to the fun things in life. After running for 10 years I am still shocked I have managed to keep the perfectionism monster out of my running life.

I started running because a friend told me she wanted to run a marathon and I decided that sounded "fun." Of course then I realized I had never actually run before.  Being the nerd that I am, I went to the local bookstore (yes, it was before we bought everything online) and bought a book called The Non-runner's Marathon Trainer. The book is based on a course developed at the University of Northern Iowa that is designed to  help a new runner train and FINISH a first marathon. The book encourages mental preparation and physical preparation.  The main theme of the book is to go into your first marathon without a goal for time. Only a goal to finish. All of the training runs are only for distance, and you are asked not to time yourself. The author has you use rate or perceived exertion and heart rate as metrics instead. Their reasoning is that a marathon is a tremendous accomplishment, and that it would be sad for you to spend months training for the race, finish 26.2 miles, and then feel bad because it took you 10 minutes longer than you wanted.

Lucky for me, I subscribed to that train of thought, and never consistently timed myself while training. I can say I really enjoyed and finished my first marathon. People asked how I did. I simply said, "It was great. I finished!" Perfectionism took a holiday during marathon time.  Ever since then I have continued to run for the sheer joy of finishing. I like running, and I find joy in simply running. When I think about it, I can't even imagine wanting to get "better" or "faster" at running.  I have tried timing myself, and honestly, it just feels funny. I'd rather just run because I can. I am fine if you get to the finish line before me. It will be there when I get there.

 Maybe I should work on taking a few other aspects of life out of the "because I wanna be the best" category, and into the "just because" category?

2012 in Review

Clearly we are better runners than we are bloggers. Since it is January I figured I try this whole blog thing again.

Let's start with an update on what Caro and I have been up to since we last blogged. 

1. We both moved. Caro moved to Baltimore from Florida to take a sweet gig which was awesome because we were super close to each other for like a month. Then my husband got relocated to Texas, and closed my private practice in Virginia to take a job at a university.

2. In September Caro and I headed to Orlando to run the Tower of Terror 10 Miler with my Dad and my 2 sisters. As usual we probably spent more time talking about our outfits than we did actually training for the race. We dressed as pirates. The weather on race day was SUPER hot, and I am pretty sure that I have run a half marathon with better time than this 10 miler, but in the end it was all worth it because we achieved what every RunDisney fan only dreams of.... we made the DISNEY BLOG.  NBD...but here is the LINK TO OUR DISNEY FAME

3. Sadly, we did not win the costume contest (that's only because we didn't know we were even on the blog until after the vote, and thus were not able to launch the eMarketing/social media campaign necessary to seal a win in the Disney arena). I am also sure we did not win because the photo was not of the entire pirate crew! Here are some pics from the race to show just how much fun it can be to run in 1,000 degree heat in a pirate costume.

From left to right: Caroline, Melanie, Dad, Amanda, and Christine

More pirate fun!

We even had time to play in Disney!
We got awesome matching shirts from RAW THREADS

The medal glows in the dark!
Also has a working elevator!

4. On the running side of things the end of 2012 was fairly uneventful as the only race I managed to do was the Turkey Trot in Arlington, Texas. Not sure about Caroline... A professional blogger would have corresponded with her before writing this post, but that's just not what this blog is all about these days. 

SO WHAT WILL 2013 BRING? 

I am still working on my race schedule which is likely to include the Cowtown Half Marathon and the Zooma  Women's Half in Bastrop, Texas in early 2013.  I can confirm that both Caroline and I were selected in the random draw for the Nike Women's half marathon in Washington DC in April which means we have got to get to work on our costume ASAP. 

Hopefully 2013 will bring a little bit more bloggin!

-Red