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| (Bear Run 5k) |
You would think after 9 months I would have somewhat
of an idea what I want to do athletically. But the truth is I have no clue. In
2012 I had a plan. Make the Olympic Trials, start trying to have a family, get
back into racing shape and race locally. Check, check, and check. After the
birth of my second I didn’t have a plan. It was another Olympic year but that
was very unrealistic for me. So, what next? I decided to give myself all the
time in the world to decide and I took it. My husband, Levi, and I talked about
him going for another Olympic Trials in the Pole Vault. We knew realistically
that we both couldn’t be pursuing big athletic goals or else our family life
would suffer. I encouraged him to go for it and enjoyed my time on the
sidelines chasing after kids. But there comes a point when things can begin to
get too comfortable. Where the day in and day out of easy running becomes habit
and the motivation for anything bigger dwindles.
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| (Almost a year after my 1st baby, competing at Club Nationals) |
After I had Lily in 2013 I came back to racing in
2014. I did local meets and definitely didn’t put in the same workload as I had
prior but it was enjoyable and not too taxing. Well, in the beginning I think
it might have been as my weight dropped 7 or so pounds below what I normally
am. I lost muscle and with breastfeeding was leaning up quickly. I never became
iron deficient but made it a goal to eat more and lift more. Check and check.
Okay so where does that leave me in 2016? The original
plan was for Levi to focus on track while I focused on the kids and home life. Once
his track season was over, I would pick up my training and start racing more. Well
it is now the end of June. Track season is coming to an end. And I’ve gotten
too comfortable these past 9 months not getting out of my comfort zone. The
desire to actually start a training schedule does not sound appealing to this
new comfortable me, but there are moments when the old me tries to claw its way
out of this life of ease.
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| (Prior to kids.) |
Now don’t get me wrong, when I say life of ease, I’m
not talking giant inner tube, lazy river, sipping a cold drink in the sunshine.
My days are exhausting but in a different way. By the end of the day mentally,
I am spent. Yet I stay up way too late simply to enjoy doing nothing (i.e.
watching TV or something). Most days I feel like I’m going nonstop to
accomplish what would look like nothing on the outside. Feeding, diapers,
laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning…Just normal life. But with two
little ones it takes forever most days. If I want to get anywhere on time I
need to start preparing an hour and a half before we leave. Add another half
hour if where we are going requires sunscreen. But when it comes to working out
I am not pushing my body like I used to. Nine months of easy running makes you
pretty comfortable running short and easy. I don’t have any daily running plans
and in a way that can be nice. I don’t want my training schedule to dictate our
lives. In 2012, I like to think I was flexible but there’s no way I would have
been able to do what I did with kids. I had my workouts, races, and lifting
schedule written out every day. Sure there were times I would do an unplanned
wake boarding day but it was never on a hard workout day and I never missed my
run because of it. I just ran at a different time than usual. If we want to go
to the lake on a moment’s notice now, I don’t feel stressed about getting my
workout in prior. As I’m merely running because I like to run and some days I
don’t feel like it. Some days I just want to sit on the couch and eat ice cream.
I’m able to enjoy life as it comes.
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| (Impromptu lake day) |
But the point of this is that there is still a gnawing
inside me that I should be, that I need to be doing more. I am fine right now
but there is a fear that this will become too comfortable and soon I will find
myself becoming lazy. When I lift hard and am sore the next day I relish that
feeling. Even if squats make it hard for me to walk down the stairs I enjoy that.
I’m using the one body God gave me. I’m still young (though most days I don’t
feel it with kids) and I want to set myself up on the best path later in life. I
want to be a role model to my girls. Not a, “Back when Mom was young she could
blah, blah, blah.”
So that brings me to flipping through the paper a few
weeks ago and coming across an ad for a race 15 minutes from my house. I
checked Levi’s work schedule. He wasn’t scheduled. So what was the excuse?
Immediately I felt nervous and excited just thinking about racing. It was two
weeks away. No time to train specifically for it but I’ve always enjoyed racing
so why not? Thoughts of winning crossed my mind, my old self clawing its way
out again, but Levi, always the voice of reason, helped throw this thought out.
Who cares if I won or not? Who cares if I don’t run “fast.” I say “fast” because
I know it is all relative. My slow might be someone’s fast and my fast might be
someone’s slow. I wasn’t doing it to prove anything to anyone. I was doing it
for me.
I got online and signed up for the Bear Run 5k at Lake
Wilderness. The next day I immediately got on the treadmill to see if I could
run a 5k under 20 minutes. I did a little warm up and started going. With half
a mile to go I had to decrease the incline from 2 to .5 it was getting hard. I
was hot. It was tough but I mentally held out even though I knew I could stop
at any time. I did not want to let comfortable Lois win. I broke 20 minutes. I
finished my treadmill 5k in 19:32. Alright I should be able to break 20 minutes
in the race. I don’t know why I even cared about my time but having a goal
might keep me honest out on the course. I finished my workout with a cool down
jog making it 7 miles on the day and my longest run post baby #2.
I did a few 200 meter strides during another treadmill
run that week and that was my prep for racing. The night before my race soon
came and Levi and I made a tentative plan to have him meet me at the race with
the kids so they didn’t have to get up so early. I made a goal to get to bed
earlier than I usually do but somehow ended up getting to bed even later…definitely
past midnight. I didn’t stress about missing sleep. I’ve been missing sleep for
the past 2.5 years so what’s another night?
In the blink of an eye, my alarm was sounding at
6:10am. One snooze push and I was up. I didn’t feel like making oatmeal so I
ate a piece of toast with jam, hardboiled egg, and a granola bar for the short
drive over. Eve had been waking up around 6:30am the past few days so it would
work out perfectly to nurse her then head over just after 7am to get my number.
7am rolled around and still no peep from Eve. I opened her door. A few minutes
later I came back and opened her curtains a little. Finally she woke. I tried
to nurse her but she decided she didn’t want to. Trying not to get frustrated I
waited. Soon hunger kicked in and she got to work. There’s no way I would have
raced without at least pumping and I really didn’t want to get my pump out of
the closet and do that. I really didn’t have the time and I doubted she would
take a bottle anyways. I ended up leaving 40 minutes later than planned but
since I know kids are unpredictable I also prepared for something to come up to
make me leave later. No stress.
I got to the race and found some free parking. I had
no idea this was a part of a big festival weekend complete with carnival rides.
Check in to get my packet was easy. I headed off to warm up. I felt terrible. I
rarely run in the morning and my body was feeling it. My legs felt like led. I
did some drills to help loosen up but it didn’t really seem to help. I figured
once the race started I wouldn’t notice.
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| (Levi and the girls before the start) |
The first mile was relatively flat with a climbing
hill at the end and into mile two. My legs hated the hills. Just under two
miles the course entered a flat trail. I felt good. But I didn’t really push
too much as I was unsure what I was capable of. Maybe I wussed out a little, I’m
not sure. I passed a young boy. He gave me encouragement. I replied in kind.
About a half mile from the finish he comes blowing by me telling me good job
again. I manage to wheeze out a compliment and watch as the boy, who maybe came
up to my shoulder, went sprinting to the finish. I dug deep and turned my legs
over faster. I crossed the finish line in 19:24. Good for first place female
finisher, which meant a Teddy Bear and some cupcakes. Lily was quite happy
about my race spoils.
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| (Top 3 women in my age group) |
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| (Post race, nursing Eve) |
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