Family 10k "relay" in all-too-familiar territory

Two thirds of my children and I participated in a 10k relay on Saturday. (Teams of two, 5k legs.) 7 friends joined us for the Boardwalk Relay Against Hunger which was also deemed a Pajama Race! Don't my boys look lovely in their muu-muus and shower caps? And the guys with afro wigs and curlers in their short nighties stole the show. Do I even need to mention that we had the "Best PJs" award in the bag? (note: dressing men/boys as women/girls always seems to win a costume category...)

The remaining third along with my husband volunteered at the race with our friends. Don't they all look great in Jersey Shore Running Club's signature prison jumpsuit orange colored t-shirts?

In the midst of marathon training I was in for a treat today (or so I thought) as I was running with my youngest son. Even though we two were on a relay team, I had agreed to run his leg along side him. The last couple of times we ran a 5k together, I had a great and memorable glowing proud momma experience. Who knew that on this day, with my boy running in a tailored house dress (clearance at K-mart for $6.98!) it would border on near torture for both of us? As it turns out, not too hot but very humid weather makes for a whiny nine year old. Add the unusual attire that he kept shifting and shrugging in to the fact that we were running and out-and-back in way too familiar territory (so he knew exactly how far everything was and my "we're almost there" claims were never ever taken seriously) to the fact that I did not take him out for training runs (aka confidence boosters) at all, and we have something as close to catastrophic as an entitled American child can suffer. The boy actually started whining about 1.2 miles into the race. I struggle with finding a balance between being whining-intolerant while attempting to allow for emotional and verbal release. My child should be allowed to express himself. He should also man up (yeah in his house dress) and embrace the suffering that running requires. He agreed to this run and understands that he must keep a commitment once it is made. We ran with very short walk breaks and lots and lots of whining for a good half of the race, possibly more. Finally with only .3 miles to go, I was DONE with the whining.

I'm sure I startled the runners that surrounded us when I barked at him something to the effect of "We will finish this walking, jogging, running, or crawling. Whatever you want. If you are in actual pain, you need to stop running and walk. You have to keep your commitment and finish the race. Whining is not going to make any of this feel easier or go faster so suck it up and finish. We ARE almost there. ENOUGH with the whining and complaining." And just like that, my boy sucked it up, and finished his struggle in silence. He finished in just over 34 minutes, which is less than 2 minutes slower than his PR. If we didn't stop to tie his shoelace 3 TIMES he would've undoubtedly finished even faster. As a mom who wants her kids to know that life ain't all about stopping to smell the roses, I'm glad that my son experienced such doubt, struggle, strain, accomplishment and triumph. Welcome to the real world, kid. This is a piece of cake compared to what life may throw at you in the future.

I looped around without him to begin my leg of the relay. I took this as a short training/recovery run and neither pushed myself too hard nor made it too easy. I think I did somewhere around 28 minutes. (This does not include the time it took to stop and have a freakin' discussion with the race director as to why I was running a 2nd loop and whether or not my child was finishing the 5k as an individual or if he was part of a team.) The course is lovely to those who don't run it several times a week, but on this particular day for me, it was boring, draining, and uneventful. Knowing every tenth of a mile of a race did not help it go any faster on this day.

My middle child stole the show in this event with his classic sprint-to-the-finish style. He finished with a slower than usual time (he is de-conditioned as he is not on the cross country team this year) but in the last stretch of the race, he found himself competing against a woman who seemed determined to pass him. We all found this peculiar, as most of the time, people seem to give children courtesy and not strain too hard to pull ahead of them:

And while I don't know what this woman's motivation was, I am remarkably grateful that she gave my child an enormous challenge that his twelve year old ego felt compelled to conquer. Who on earth wants to be beaten by a woman in a pink night gown? I suspect he did not take the race too seriously for most of the course. After all, he was running in his own back yard and he and his teammate (who is fourteen and not a fan of running at all) were both indifferent about their time. But what a way to finish a race, kid.

We had a great time at this event and I look forward to a lifetime of family centered running with my boys. May they always remember the struggle and victory on their day of running in old lady muu-muus.

After this race I registered for The Jersey Shore Half Marathon with hopes to gain a new PR in this distance. With such a low price and such a scenic (yet slightly unfamiliar) flat local course, how could I not?

Instant Kudos.

I accidentally found a way to get more acknowledgement, encouragement, and more respect from passers-by and fellow runners.

I never knew that all of the cheering and encouraging words that I hear during a long race were so essential and important to me... until I barely heard any during my second marathon. That race was inside a park and spectators mainly stayed at the start/finish area.

As I stated sometime last week, I fell into a rut with running. Although I'm back on my schedule, I procrastinated getting out the door for this weekend's long run until Sunday afternoon... I couldn't easily find a shirt to wear so I put my Marathon Maniacs singlet on. I needed an ego boost anyway...

Paired with knee high red and white socks, this singlet got a lot of attention. Even though I ran my usual route on the boardwalk, quite a few fellow runners gave me a "right on" or "go maniac" or "nice shirt!" or something like that. A few non runners acknowledged it too. I need to remember this the next time I really need some motivation.

I'm like an animal...

This entry won't be as interesting as it's title. Sorry. I'm referring to my eating habits. Animals don't go around looking for all kinds variety and are not highly selective as to what they want to eat or what will satisfy their cravings.

I eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. It's the only way I can keep my protein intake high enough and keep hunger from being a nuisance or distraction. Once upon a time, humans ate for survival and maintenance purposes only. They weren't sad about it or bored with it. They didn't have much of a choice. They didn't need to satisfy their cravings or have variety. Eating was an essential part of life, not an indulgent part. Now all we have to do is take a look around us and we can see that it's completely opposite.

I have worked hard to change my perspective on food. (I also implement this change for my sons.) If I don't constantly look to please myself with it, then it will be so much easier to control what I eat. In spite of the title of this post, I am human and I do indulge occasionally. But the requirement of having to "enjoy" a meal is no longer. During my work week, I eat only to keep hunger away and only to build and fuel my body. I don't need variety and I do not gain pleasure from the food that I eat for breakfast and lunch every day. I look forward to eating mainly to satisfy the nuisance of hunger. But other than that, it's kind of all business.

My breakfast and lunch are pretty simple to prepare. These are the main ingredients:

I combine 1 scoop of protein powder (equal to 1/4 cup) with 1/4 cup of oats and 1/4 cup of lowfat (usually 2%) milk. Then I add a teaspoon of natural peanut butter. Sometimes, if I'm low on milk, I'll use water. (Milk for coffee is more important if that gallon is almost empty.) Sometimes I'll add a teaspoon of flax seed meal. Sometimes I add a few semi-sweet chocolate chips.

This goes in the microwave for 1 minute 15 seconds. It can also be baked in the oven or cooked in a frying pan like a pancake. The consistency is something like a dry oatmeal cookie or a scone. This breakfast is around 300 calories and it has over 30 grams of protein. No, it is not the most delicious breakfast I have ever eaten in my whole life. It does not taste better than Belgian waffles or french toast or an omelet that is saturated with cheese. It (severely) pales in comparison to the Nutella stuffed crepes at IHOP. But it proves that higher protein intake builds a better body. I'm convinced that my leanness and any muscle definition I have has a lot to do with this recipe. Mainly because I can't stay on a strength training regimen right now. (No good reason for that.)

I eat the same thing for lunch. I microwave this in a tupperware container to bring to work and I add 4 sliced strawberries or most of a banana and about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of Dannon fat free vanilla yogurt. I guess I'm satisfying any cravings for something sweet without tipping the scale of gluttony.

My dinner choices do vary, and I usually have some sort of snack right after work. I'm not *that* boring.

I have tried this recipe with other types of protein powders and it seems to work best with Dymatize Elite Fusion. Anything else can cook up too dry or taste very artificial.

If you try this, let me know what you think.

Gone With the Hurricane and Wind...

We opted to take a weekend family trip to Lancaster, Pa so as to dodge the potential threat of Hurricane Irene. Most of the shore was under mandatory or voluntary evacuation and we could see no reason to stay and wait it out.

We were quite fortunate- our home suffered no damage and our town only lost power for a short amount of time while we were gone. Friends and nearby neighbors were not as fortunate. I am grateful that we were spared, however, I can only be so joyful about it given the fact that so many suffered great losses and are barely on the road to recovery as flooding is still an eminent threat.

What the heck does this have to do with running? Well, all of us regular boardwalk runners lost a precious part of our route. Spring Lake boardwalk was destroyed. The synthetic (is that what it's called) boards were a pleasure to run on. It was beautiful and well kept. From the boardwalk that bisects the street I live on to the end of Spring Lake boardwalk I had just a little over five miles. So this was my place for a ten mile out-and-back. This is Spring Lake before the hurricane:

And here's the boardwalk after it was destroyed by the storm:

What am I supposed to do now? Get in my CAR and drive somewhere to run?!?! It's a bummer, but I know things could be so much worse. According to the media, the township intends to repair the boardwalk quickly. My running club does a September 11th Memorial Run every year and this boardwalk was where we ran most of it. Bah. So sad. I don't know what else to say...

38 miles

Damn right. I'm back. Since last Saturday, I got 38 miles of running out of my body. I feel good, too. But I'm not taking all the credit... Well, yes I am. But I have some people who are helping make this happen with me.

I am stretching out of my comfort zone and running REGULARLY with other humans. I love how we inadvertently pull each other through the long runs. I run at a faster and more consistent pace with them and I NEVER even think about renegotiating the distance when we're out there. Even through I usually stick with the distance I commit to, I almost always start deliberating reasons to shorten a long run- even by just a mile or so- when I'm alone. They seem to be opposite of me in one way- they both start out faster in the beginning. I start out slower and build up to a faster pace between the 2nd and 3rd mile. We seem to meet in the middle in this regard- I keep them slower in the beginning but we're still running faster than I would run at the start.

I believe this is going to help improve my race pace. I expect to shave several minutes off of my marathon PR particularly because Philadelphia is nothing at all similar to Lake Placid.

One great thing about this is that one of these women has never run long distances before. I think we were both impressed with the ease in which her first ten mile run came and went. The second time we went out and ran 11.5 miles and she seriously told me that it was fun. If she can use the word "fun" after her 2nd long run which is also her longest run to date, I think she is built for this.

One of the ladies I run with brought her daughter with us for two of these long runs. Please tell me how awesome it is that a 17 year old girl would wake up at 6 am on a Saturday morning to go out and run ten miles with her mother and her mother's friends! This girl is training for her first half marathon. The mother in me beams when I watch her. This level of determination was unfathomable to me when I was her age. And it's SUMMER! And the girl has a job! You'd think she'd want to be doing teenager-y things, like sleeping in on a Saturday morning...

One of them is running the Philadelphia Marathon with me. There is much debate about who is "slower" but based on pure stats it's a toss up. Her fastest 5k is better than mine by more than a minute. Our half marathon PR's are almost exactly the same- I believe mine might be a few seconds slower- BUT she boasts about not stopping at any aid stations through the entire 13.1. (And yes, I told her that was dumb.) Since I stopped (and walked while drinking) at more than half of the aid stations AND stopped to stretch twice during my PR race, I think this technically makes me faster in the half marathon distance...

Philadelphia will be her first marathon, and my 3rd. May the faster one win!

We shall see on November 20th. Either way, I'm grateful for these friends and new experiences. I'm excited about what is on the horizon.