Several weeks ago I signed up to volunteer as a running buddy for the Avon Lake team of Girls on the Run of Greater Summit. We're now 2 weeks into the 10-week season... and I'm hooked!
For those of you who don't know what Girls on the Run is all about, here's a great place to learn more: http://www.girlsontherun.org/What-We-Do
My first experience with Girls on the Run was as a SoleMate (an awesome name given to those raising funds for the GOTR program) while training for the Cleveland Marathon. I did my best to hit up all of my friends and neighbors for donations. GOTR's minimum goal was listed at $262... just $10 per mile. I felt I could improve upon that and set my personal fundraising goal at $500. I should have given my family, friends and coworkers more credit... I managed to raise over $1,400 for Girls on the Run. And, not that my friends aren't generous to begin with, but I have to assume that the nature of this program hit home with several of those people who donated, making it very easy to convince them to open their wallets and checkbooks :) I very much appreciated the support and am now more convinced than ever that their donations went to a worthy cause.
At first, I didn't know much about the program... just the basics. But the more I learned, the more excited I became to play a larger role in Girls on the Run. Raising funds was great, but raising awareness and working directly with these girls was something I really looked forward to. And now that I'm a part of it, I can't wait to do even more.
And this is just about the time when insanity sets in... I'm not very good at baby steps... I like skipping directly to the most elaborate and complicated ending. I've already daydreamed about coaching my own team, starting my own council, operating my own 501(c)3 organization... see what I mean? Maybe I could just start with completing my first season?
But that's not really what this program is all about, is it? It's about teaching these girls that they can be themselves (insanity and all) and dream big (really, really big) and set their sights on the unimaginable (see above) and that anything is possible if you work hard enough. So while I will admit that I do need to work on having patience when it comes to some of these things, I am unwilling to consider that any of these ideas are beyond my reach.
So, for now, I will attempt to slow down... and reduce my leaps and bounds to more manageable baby steps... I will simply point my feet in the direction of my wildest dreams and plan to get there at a slightly more manageable pace.
"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon."
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure [9/15/12]
An all around amazing day... the weather, the race, the crowd, the shirts, the socks... and the inspiration!
I haven't raced since the marathon and I couldn't have picked a better way to get back into racing mode. Team Dee is one amazing group of people! And watching the survivors finish, hearing each of their names announced... there's nothing else like it. What a wonderful group of women (and men) all fighting to find a cure for breast cancer. I'm so proud to be a part of it!
Thanks to Julie for gathering the team and designing our awesome shirts [Fight like a girl]! Based on the number of strangers taking pics, I'd say they were a crowd favorite! And to Maureen for tracking down the sweet socks! I'm impressed the boys were man enough to wear them too!
As far as the actual race was concerned, I felt really good at the start, but took the first half mile a little slow just to be safe... not that there were many options... the number of people downtown for this event was absolutely amazing and, with that kind of crowd, there was no way to take off too fast! But, once we got going, I decided to see what I was capable of. It certainly wasn't my fastest 5k, but I'm not at all disappointed with my 26:35 time! Mile 1 was around 9:00, mile 2 around 8:30 and the final 1.1 around 9:05... An excellent starting point for getting back into shape :)
Great peeps, great event... and a great post-race breakfast at Sweet Melissa's. Sign me up for next year!
I haven't raced since the marathon and I couldn't have picked a better way to get back into racing mode. Team Dee is one amazing group of people! And watching the survivors finish, hearing each of their names announced... there's nothing else like it. What a wonderful group of women (and men) all fighting to find a cure for breast cancer. I'm so proud to be a part of it!
Thanks to Julie for gathering the team and designing our awesome shirts [Fight like a girl]! Based on the number of strangers taking pics, I'd say they were a crowd favorite! And to Maureen for tracking down the sweet socks! I'm impressed the boys were man enough to wear them too!
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| Team Dee before the race |
As far as the actual race was concerned, I felt really good at the start, but took the first half mile a little slow just to be safe... not that there were many options... the number of people downtown for this event was absolutely amazing and, with that kind of crowd, there was no way to take off too fast! But, once we got going, I decided to see what I was capable of. It certainly wasn't my fastest 5k, but I'm not at all disappointed with my 26:35 time! Mile 1 was around 9:00, mile 2 around 8:30 and the final 1.1 around 9:05... An excellent starting point for getting back into shape :)
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| The girls - after the race |
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Starting over...
About 5 weeks after deciding that what I was battling in my hip was likely a stress fracture, I received an email from a friend asking if anyone was interested in joining her team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on September 15th... just 6 weeks away. After reading her story, I knew I wanted to be a part of the team. I also knew that it meant cutting short the recovery time I promised myself I would take. Hmmm... what to do, what to do?
It took all of 30 seconds to come to the conclusion that I really wanted to run this race. So I responded that she could count me in, registered online, hit up my awesome husband for a donation, then... nothing. Even though my hip was feeling a million times better than it had been, I knew that 5 weeks was not enough time to fully recover and that the smart thing to do was to take off as much time as I possibly could to assure that I wouldn't end up back where I started and have to begin the recovery process again. So, in the meantime, I read about running, signed up for a volunteer program involving running and spent my days dreaming about how it would feel to run again. I gave myself 4 more weeks' recovery time (instead of 7), then hit the pavement.
Yikes! I managed to convince a friend to run with me for my first time back and I'm fairly certain it was the only reason I kept going for the entire 2 mile run. Thank goodness for Jaime! I was shockingly out of shape and the only motivation I had was to keep up with her so that we could continue our conversation. I somehow managed to ask enough questions to keep her talking the entire time, which allowed me to focus solely on breathing... a very important part of the running process.
Yay for getting back to running! Boo for starting over :(
I ran another 2 miles the other day... it took about 19 minutes... and I'd given it my all. I'm truly not worried about the time, but it was still hard to accept just how far my fitness level had fallen. I'm a marathon runner, for crying out loud... how can 2 miles be this difficult?
There's no question that race day will be tough. But the plan is to run as a team and it's most definitely for a good cause. It's been decided that, instead of sticking around for the awards, we'll be heading out after the race to grab breakfast. Oddly enough, with the promise of food after the finish, I feel slightly better about my odds of finishing.
I'm really glad my first race back won't be a competitive one, but I'm not going to lie, I'm still a little nervous about the distance... I haven't run more than 2 miles since May!
But, believe it or not, at this very moment, as I write this post, I've come to one amazing realization... this is exactly where I was last summer... just starting out, no training under my belt, out of shape and unsure of how it was all going to work out. This is the point where I made the commitment to run a marathon. This is how I felt at the beginning of my journey. It really was the start of the most incredible year. And if the coming year ends up anything like it, I can't possibly be worried about the fact that I had to start over... I'm just too damn excited about the journey ahead.
It took all of 30 seconds to come to the conclusion that I really wanted to run this race. So I responded that she could count me in, registered online, hit up my awesome husband for a donation, then... nothing. Even though my hip was feeling a million times better than it had been, I knew that 5 weeks was not enough time to fully recover and that the smart thing to do was to take off as much time as I possibly could to assure that I wouldn't end up back where I started and have to begin the recovery process again. So, in the meantime, I read about running, signed up for a volunteer program involving running and spent my days dreaming about how it would feel to run again. I gave myself 4 more weeks' recovery time (instead of 7), then hit the pavement.
Yikes! I managed to convince a friend to run with me for my first time back and I'm fairly certain it was the only reason I kept going for the entire 2 mile run. Thank goodness for Jaime! I was shockingly out of shape and the only motivation I had was to keep up with her so that we could continue our conversation. I somehow managed to ask enough questions to keep her talking the entire time, which allowed me to focus solely on breathing... a very important part of the running process.
Yay for getting back to running! Boo for starting over :(
I ran another 2 miles the other day... it took about 19 minutes... and I'd given it my all. I'm truly not worried about the time, but it was still hard to accept just how far my fitness level had fallen. I'm a marathon runner, for crying out loud... how can 2 miles be this difficult?
There's no question that race day will be tough. But the plan is to run as a team and it's most definitely for a good cause. It's been decided that, instead of sticking around for the awards, we'll be heading out after the race to grab breakfast. Oddly enough, with the promise of food after the finish, I feel slightly better about my odds of finishing.
I'm really glad my first race back won't be a competitive one, but I'm not going to lie, I'm still a little nervous about the distance... I haven't run more than 2 miles since May!
But, believe it or not, at this very moment, as I write this post, I've come to one amazing realization... this is exactly where I was last summer... just starting out, no training under my belt, out of shape and unsure of how it was all going to work out. This is the point where I made the commitment to run a marathon. This is how I felt at the beginning of my journey. It really was the start of the most incredible year. And if the coming year ends up anything like it, I can't possibly be worried about the fact that I had to start over... I'm just too damn excited about the journey ahead.
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