Healthy Habits

Its been a while since I did a blog, so I figured I'd provide an update on how my New Years Resolution to get in shape is going.

I am still "running". I put it in quotes since I go so slow its hard to call it running. But I am trying. My friend was in a bind recently - she was supposed to run a 30 km relay with a friend (each person doing 15 km), but the friend got injured and was unable to run. She was looking for someone to fill in for the race. 15 km equals about 9.32 miles, so I hadn't run that far yet (only got as high as 5 miles), but I volunteered to help thinking I could run 5 or 6 miles and walk the rest.

The race was the 30K Around The Bay in Hamilton, Ontario. She started the race doing the first half which was flat but not in a very scenic area. I did the second half which had some hills but was very pretty. She did a great job and got to the relay point around 1:55 or so. I started my half with some walking (I was trying to figure out how to get an app on my iPhone to work) then ran super slow. Again, after 2 miles I felt great. I was hopeful I'd be able to finish the race feeling that wonderful. Unfortunately, I eventually got to 5 or 6 miles and started to get tired. It didn't help that I was still in the hilly area. Most of it wasn't too bad - they weren't very steep. But there was one KILLER hill. I swore all the way up. Luckily, it was the last one.

When I only had 1.5 km left, I could see the finish area. For some reason, that made my run SO MUCH HARDER. I know it now its purely psychological, but something about that last stretch makes me feel like I can't finish. I get SO tired and feel SO worn out. My music wasn't helping - I couldn't get my iPhone to play anything uplifting. While running, I was STRUGGLING to pass walkers. I was so slow. The race ended inside of an arena. We had to run past the arena, then turn and go into the service/truck entrance to the main floor. While I was running next to the arena, a fit man yelled to me "YOU CAN DO IT! KEEP GOING! IT'S JUST AROUND THAT CORNER THEN YOU GO INSIDE! KEEP SWINGING THOSE ARMS!" Some how, that helped. I replayed his words all the way around the corner, down the steep slope and into the arena seeing that it had taken me 2:14 minutes to get there. Longer than I had hoped for. Once I saw the finish line only feet in front of me, I started running FAST (for me). I kept going after I passed the finish line and a guy had to tell me to stop running. Ironic, eh? My pace ended up being 14:10 (meaning: my average mile took 14 minutes, 10 seconds).

Luckily, I avoided injury with that race. So despite my incredibly slow speed, I did something right with my form that kept injury away. This past week I've been able to continue with my training and haven't had any problems. *knock on wood* The only issue I have is figuring out how to run 5 miles tonight on a tight schedule with two kids and my husband getting ready for a work trip....

Along with my running, I started a Healthy Habits Challenge with some friends and hope to get more benefits out of that. Its a 10 week challenge with a list of healthy activities that can earn you points. Everyone competes against each other and the 2 people with the most points at the end of the 10 weeks wins $$! Its a fun way to be more conscious of how healthy I live my life. I hope I really do get some good habits out of this challenge! I'm already starting to think a little bit differently about my days - more veggies, no cell phone use in the car, etc.

I weighed myself before the Challenge began and I am STILL at 170 lbs. Down 11 lbs since the start of the year, and down 2 pant sizes, but not seeing many other changes. Hopefully I can lose a few more pounds while continuing to get enough calories/energy to keep running.

Off to get more water! Later!