Coming Soon…

You may not have caught the conversation in the comments of this post, but the rumors are true: I am planning to run a marathon in 2013.  The Chicago Marathon, in fact!  Thank goodness it’s not until 2013, so I have some time to wrap my mind around this insanity.

I’m pretty excited, as Raquelita and Chrissy are on board to run this one with me, along with a bunch of other running bloggers.  Actually, they are the reason I want to run this race.  I’ve never met either of them in person, but I read their blogs daily (or nearly so) and we regularly trade comments back and forth.  I feel a kinship and a connection with them, and I’m pretty stoked to meet them both.  The chance to experience a marathon with my favorite blogging friends is not an opportunity I can pass up. 

It’s a little scary to commit to something in 2013 because I don’t know where I’ll be living in a year.  On the other hand, it’s satisfying to take control and say to myself, “Dammit!  We’re doing this!”  After all, a person can only stand so much uncertainty in her life.  Now, I realize that anything can happen during marathon training—injuries, burnout, demands from other areas of life, family emergencies.  So I’m just going to cross my fingers and train smart in the hopes of avoiding those misfortunes.

Speaking of training, I’ve got a secret weapon on my side.  My friend Trainer Tom is totally excited to sketch out a training plan for me.  His face practically lit up when I told him I was going to run Chicago—it was adorable.  We haven’t talked seriously about training yet, but we’ll get there.  In the meantime, I’ve been eyeing the beginner marathon training schedule in the Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running.  I like it because it has you running four days a week, which is about the max that I think I could handle.  I really like and need recovery days—my body is happier with some cross-training and yoga to complement all that running.  I also like that it has you run by time, which is what I do.  Finally, in the training plan, there are six runs longer than two hours.  That’s still pretty daunting for someone who has never run longer than 13.1 miles in a single day, but six extra-long runs seems…crazy but feasible over the course of a long training season.  The longest run is 3 hours 30 minutes, which translates to 21 miles at a 10:00/mile pace.

21 miles.  Yeah.  I’m not there yet.  But I’ll get there, one step at a time.  [Cue the Journey song: Don’t stop believing!]

I’m excited and terrified by the marathon.  The distance, the prospect of doing really long runs in August…possibly in Texas.  Help! The marathon is not something I believe runners must do to prove something to the world.  But it is a pretty spectacular event, and I won’t lie: the idea of being able to say I ran a marathon is appealing.  I may only run one of them in my life, but that’s a decision I can make after I’ve run my first one.

Friends, see you in Chicago in 2013.

Half-Marathon Fever and Race Volunteering

{Image: Screen shot from the BCS Marathon website}

Registration for the BCS (Bryan/College Station) Marathon and Half-Marathon opened this week, and two people told me yesterday that they registered for the half-marathon.  Which got me thinking…

Do I want to run a December half-marathon?  Hmm…

On the Yes side of the scale, I have been running this summer.  The December race day means I’d have four solid months to build my base up to the half distance.  Also, I love half-marathons!  To my mind, it is the perfect long-distance race.

On the No side of the scale, the race is expensive—$55 and up, depending on when you register(ed).  Given the uncertain state of my employment status in the fall, I don’t feel comfortable paying so much money for a race.  After all, if I want to run that morning, I can do it for free!  And I know I’ll be training in the fall because I still want to run a half in the winter or spring.  The other item on the No side of the scale is that if I don’t run the race, I can volunteer for it!  My friend Christy and I volunteered for the inaugural BCS Marathon in 2011, and it was a lot of fun.  We had to get up super-early (after being out super-late—party animals are we!), wear funny costumes, and hand out grapes, candy, and beverages to the marathoners.  It was my first experience as a race volunteer, and it felt good to be part of the running and racing community on the sidelines.  I know from my own races how nice it is to see friendly faces out there on the course.  It was my pleasure to give back, to make someone else’s race a little more fun.

I think I’m going to stick to the sidelines for this one.  Hopefully I’ll get to cheer on my friends Tonya and Trainer Tom as they run the half.  I’ll hand out candy again, yelling, “Fiber or no fiber?” to the runners who get to choose between fruit and candy.  I’ll get to be part of the magic of race day while saving my pennies.  Then after the race, I’ll head out for my own run, happy to have the chance to be both a runner and a cheerleader on the same day.

Just for fun, here are two photos from last year’s BCS Marathon.  You can see our aid station had a doctor theme, even though I’m pretty sure most of us are not that kind of doctor.

 

Hello, Flexibility

Week of July 22, 2012:

Monday: Yoga

Tuesday: Bike ride for groceries

Wednesday: Morning run (20 minutes)

Thursday: More yoga!

Friday: Morning run (20 minutes)

I almost called this post “Good-bye, Flexibility,” because I have noticed lately that 1) my flexibility is getting worse, and 2) I have not been doing my yoga.  Or at least prior to this week, I was not doing my yoga.  I do stretch after runs and I usually do a little bit of yoga/stretching before bed, but I think all the running and biking was starting to take its toll on my back and legs.  Touching my toes was getting harder!

By some miracle, this week I managed to fit two yoga sessions into my evenings.  Two!  The yoga was, as always, wonderful and relaxing.  I seem to be in a better frame of mind to enjoy yoga now that I’m feeling more peaceful about my personal life.  It’s ironic that at a time when I should have been relying on yoga to comfort me, I wanted motion and distraction: running and biking, anything to trick myself into moving forward (both physically and metaphorically).  It wasn’t that yoga wasn’t working for me; it’s that I just didn’t want it.  This week I wanted it, and it was right where I left it: on my yoga mat.

Happy weekend, everyone.  Namaste.

Pssst…Thank you.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that these flowers are gorgeous.  They’re just part of the landscaping around my apartment, but wow!  The color!  The geometry!  I think I took this photo in the evening, in the fading light, but I can’t recall…

I spent some time thinking about my feelings on posting that photo of myself the other day and your comments on it.  First, I wanted to say thank you for the nice things you said!  You are so kind and supportive.  Second, I wonder if my reaction to my own appearance is indicative of something larger about my sense of self and my expectations.  I don’t talk about it much, but I am a perfectionist.  I have this visceral belief that perfection is possible and that if I can be perfect, then I will be immune to all criticism and invulnerable to any bad things life might throw at me.  This belief is not rational on many levels, but it exists, deep in my psyche.

Your comments reminded me that ideally, we see the good in others before we see the flaws.  Even better, the good we see in others overshadows their weaknesses.  I wish I could feel that way about myself.  I think I spend too much time thinking about the ways in which I fall short of my own perfectionistic desires—I don’t work hard enough, my science isn’t good enough, I’m too whiny, I have trouble completing things, I’m too emotional, I’m not nice enough…blah blah blah.  The list could go on forever.  FOREVER!  Like every person, I am a complex set of traits and habits, some of which are charming and some of which are irritating.  But I am who I am, and at the same time, I am trying to be better than who I am right now.  Now that is a paradox: to be satisfied with yourself and your life while striving to improve it.  No wonder we’re all achievement junkies!

2012 has been kicking my ass.  There is no doubt about that.  I could be really destroyed by all the bad stuff that’s been happening (namely, funding issues/job insecurity and the end of my romance with Matt), but I am fighting tooth and nail to make it to a happier place.  One set of directions to that happier place is to remember that it’s not all bad, that there are always glimmers of hope in the bad days.  In other words, when I look at a picture of myself, I want to see my strong arms and legs, not my stocky midsection.  When I think about myself, I want to see someone who is smart, competent, and kind, someone who believes in her own self-worth and the value of her contributions to the world.  Like I said earlier, I am happy with my body.  I’m striving to be happy with my life, misfortunes be damned.

I believe that you reap what you sow.  In other words, the way that you act in the world will come back to you in various ways.  I suppose it’s sort of like karma.  But the point is that it reminds me to choose the bigger life: to act with honesty and integrity, even when shitty things happen.  It’s hard, this business of being a good person even when the Universe seems to be out to get you.  I deserve a Nicest Ex-Girlfriend in the World Award and a Most Persistent Postdoc Award for my good behavior even in the face of bad odds.  But since nobody out there is going to give me those awards, I am hereby acknowledging my own fortitude and my own capacity for optimism.

Do you hear that, 2012?  I am not done with you yet.  We’ve still got five months to go, and I intend to come out on top.  So bring it!  I might be wearing a midriff-bearing top, and I don’t care if you think it makes me look pudgy.  I’m still going to kick your ass.  While looking fabulous in my new running skirt, of course!

A Perfect Skirt, a Sloggy Run

Week of July 15, 2012:

Thursday: Off (out to dinner with the girls)

Friday: Short morning run (20 minutes)

Saturday: Bike commute to work + grocery shopping

Total minutes run this week: 80.

Week of July 22, 2012:

Sunday: Long run! (40 minutes)

I am taking a deep breath and showing you my new running skirt.  While I love the skirt (LOVE it!), the photo above is neither focused nor very flattering to me, but whatever.  I have never claimed that my belly is photogenic, and here you can see it peeking out.  I think it’s entirely possible to be happy with your body and yet not thrilled with every single part.  That’s how I feel about my midsection.  I have a short torso, and that fact will never, ever change.  No amount of dieting, exercise, self-hatred, or denial will alter that aspect of my figure.  While I embrace the whole of my appearance, I will always be a little self-conscious about my belly.  Maybe some self-consciousness is a good thing—perhaps it keeps us humble?

Anyway, let’s talk about this skirt!  I am absolutely in love with it.  I found it at Target; it’s the C9 line by Champion.  My skirt is a simple black number, with little shorts underneath.  Running in it is an absolute joy: the shorts do not ride up at all, and the skirt just floats along with me.  Everything stays snug and comfortable, and I think the fabric has some of that sweat-wicking technology too.  My skirt was $15 on sale this month at Target, so if you’re interested, I recommend it.  I’ve run in it several times too, so my review is a more thorough assessment than a single run.

The sweat-wicking came in handy, as today’s run was done in almost 100% humidity—the overcast sky was sprinkling on me during my run.  I chose a new route today, an out-and-back over to Veterans Park, which is the start and end site of the Armadillo Dash every year.  It was fun to visit the park where I’ve ended three of my four half-marathons; I have a lot of good memories attached to that place now.  My run was a good one, though I’ll confess that it was a hard one too.  The humidity was pretty oppressive, and I felt tired about halfway through my 40-minute long run.  It wasn’t too hot (by Texas standards, at least), but I was glad to finish it.  The walk home was nice, though—a 10-minute stroll accompanied by that post-run happy feeling.

How is your weekend?

Positive Notes

Week of July 8, 2012:

Saturday: Short bike ride + slow evening walk (no yoga today—oops)

Week of July 15, 2012:

Sunday: Long run (40 steamy minutes)

Monday: Bike ride for groceries

Tuesday: Off (evening party for work)

Wednesday: Short morning run (20 minutes) 

Good morning!  This week is crazy busy for me, but I wanted to stop by to say hi.  I am most pleased to report that I may be slowly, ever so slowly, becoming a morning runner.  I’ve been getting up earlier for the last week and a half, and several times I’ve headed out for a run before work.  On most workdays (Monday-Friday), I head into work as early as possible to get my experiments going for the day.  But yesterday, for example, I didn’t have behavior to run, so instead I went running.  It was a short run—just 20 minutes or 2-ish miles plus some walking, but it felt great to get out there and start the day on such a positive note.

My hope is that I can keep up this momentum for the rest of the summer.  I need all the positive vibes I can get right now, and running is a great way to keep moving forward, literally and metaphorically.

Happy day to you!

Making the Big Time!

BREAKING NEWS: This blog has hit the big time!  Feels Like Flying has climbed into the first page of hits was in the first page of hits in a Google search for “feels like flying.”  Currently it’s on the second page, in the 12th position overall.

Yee-haw!

Also, this.  Purty.  (Hi!  Check out my two-tone toes.)