Journey Fitness

I was SO sick I did NOT run. That doesn’t mean I didn’t run at all. I did attend boot camp in the morning, and he had us run about a mile. I decided that was good enough. I felt totally FINE in the morning, but had pancreatitis by the evening and there was NO way. I had to even cancel on clients! I felt horrible about that, but what can you do?

This is Burnis, the drill sergeant at the boot camp! I’d highly recommend it. In fact, I enjoyed it so well, I might sign up for another session and am considering getting bootcamp certification myself!

Tags: a year of running, Add new tag, bootcamp, Fitness, Hank, health, pancreatitis

This little guy is one of my buddies on my run route from home to Starbucks. He has two other brothers. They will meet me at the end of the fence and “race” me. The white one always cheats, though. He doesn’t wait until I get to the end.

I asked if he would mind if I took his picture. He said “Sure, but let me put on my fierce face first.” You can tell he is VERY fierce.

Run: Home to Starbucks and back
Mileage: 5.04
Time: 50:00
Blessing: BEAUTIFUL weather…and the apple fritter wasn’t half bad either!

Tags: a year of running, Fitness

Isn’t that just beautiful!?

Today was our longest run to date as our training group. Erin started early and met us about 10 miles into her run. Ron and Erin and I then ran out, with the half marathoners close on our tails. The halfers ran 9 the full ran 18. I wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to feel, as I ran a marathon last weekend, but I’m always game for a long run.

The run was gorgeous. It’s amazing how much this trail has changed in the few short months we’ve been running it. It’s also SO peaceful! There were lots of other runners, walkers, and cyclists out, but it didn’t feel crowded at all.

We talked and laughed the entire way. I really love coaching the marathoners. I do believe I’ll be doing a Seattle Marathon group starting in July!

Run: Centennial Trail
Distance: 18 miles
Time: 3:13:30
Blessing: Two HUGE bald eagles flew right over our heads…it was breathtaking!
Total mileage for the week: 62.2

Tags: a year of running, coaching, Fitness, marathon, running

Friday Roy had his surgery, so we spent a lot of time waiting to be called in. Finally he did get called in and was prepped. I sat with him until he went into surgery. Since it was knee surgery and he’d done it before, we were both pretty chill about the entire thing.

I had been sitting in the waiting room while he was being prepped and it was driving me insane. First of all, it felt like EVERYONE around me was eating something. How odd! This is an outpatient surgery place where most people wait, all told, less than 90 minutes. Seriously you have to EAT something in that 90 minutes? On top of the constant chip bag rattling and the crunching, there was LITTER everywhere. Litter. One would think that grown adult members of our society would know how to use a garbage can. I guess they all believe they have a personal maid following them around.

So as soon as he went in, I went out for a run. The weather was nice, and while the route isn’t beautiful it was at least outside. I popped in my ear buds and dialed in one of my favorite podcasts, “Fitness Rocks.” In it he was talking about a study that studied the impact of lifestyle on Type II Diabetes. One of the newer stats for the US is that 1 in 4…let me repeat that one in four adults in the US has Type II aka Adult Onset Diabetes. It is estimated that 90% or more of those cases are 100% preventable as it is directly linked to a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and an unhealthy diet.

So it was ironic that when I made it back into the waiting room I looked around and noticed that I was wrong before. It wasn’t everyone who was eating. It was, however, almost everyone in the room who would be classified as obese. And they weren’t munching on carrot sticks. One lady was on her second bag of chips (I ran 3 miles). Another was sipping a venti frapuccino (those top around 900 calories for a drink). Another had a candy wrapper beside her. NO, I wasn’t intentionally taking inventory, but in light of what I’d just heard it just stood out at me.

The truth is, there but for the grace of God and Weight Watchers and a lot of personal drive, would be I. I could easily be headed down that path. I just wanted to take all of them in my arms and say “You are so much MORE than this habit of eating” because I guarantee that probably NONE of them were truly hungry. They were eating out of boredom because there was nothing to do while their loved one had minor surgery. Or maybe it was stress, or habit, or entertainment. All of them reasons why we eat. None of them valid reasons TO eat.

And don’t even get me STARTED on the number of people hacking and coughing in there…yes, it was a doctor’s office, but not a GP.

Unfortunately I did NOT take a photo today! I was way too preoccupied with Roy’s surgery and other issues, but I do have this to entertain you. This was my route:

Run: North Everett
Mileage: 3.15
Time: 34.59 (almost embarrassing)
Blessing: Getting out of a crowded waiting room.

Tags: a year of running, Fitness

Fog lifted this morning and all I could think was, “I need to do this…but I can’t because I have no. I need to print, oh the printer is burned. I should bring my flash…no computer to put flash drive in.” I also had a lot of tears today. It was a HARD DAY! At one point someone asked me if I could patch a network jack in a staff meeting (asked me in a staff meeting if I could LATER patch a network jack) and I started to answer sure, then I stopped and said, “I can’t. My keys melted” and started to cry in front of EVERYONE. After the meeting Becky came over and said, “I think you need a hug” and held onto me for at least a full minute while I just sobbed. Why am I taking this so hard?

I will say, though, that part of it is the well meaning people who keep telling me it was just “stuff” and “it could have been worse.” Yes, it was just stuff. It was stuff that meant a lot to me from kids I will never see again, a few of whom have passed on. It was memories and appreciation. All that is GONE. Yes, it could have been worse, but that doesn’t mean it’s still not bad.

It is a blessing that no one was hurt. The fire started above my head while I was still in the building, as far as I can tell. I could have died, kids could have died, yes it could have been SO much more tragic.

But that doesn’t mean it still isn’t pretty bad.

Today’s run:

Mileage: 4.23
Time: 43:55
Route: Home from the high school
Photo: One of my favorite flowers is the lilac. I actually forgot my camera today, but did have my Blackberry with me.
Blessing: Running is such a stress reliever!

Tags: a year of running, Fitness

My marathon/half marathon peeps that I run with every Saturday!

We did TEN miles today, the longest yet for some of my folks. We were at the 8 mile turnaround.

Run: 10 miles around Marysville, LOTS of hills!
Mileage: 10.19 miles
Blessing: Running with these wonderful and beautiful people
Total mileage this week: 40.09
Weather: muggy and cool

Tags: a year of running, coaching, Fitness, marathon

I know, I know…I take a lot of pictures of flowers. It is because in the great state I live in, it is SO grey and dreary all Winter. When Spring hits the smells, sounds, and colors are almost overwhelming! Since I can’t photograph smells (which may be a Very Good Thing), you’ll have to settle for colors…or flowers!

This is a petunia in my hanging basket at home. I love my little white house with the funky blue diamonds on the door, the aluminum awnings, and the flowers in the front yard. This color just makes me smile every time I come home.

Run: Ran with my 5k class both at 5 and at 6
Blessing: Chatting with new friends on the run! Coming home to this flower.
Weather: cooling off, a little chilly
Mileage: 5.31
Time: 1:14:41 (we did a run/walk combination)
Listened to: my new and old friends talk.

Have I mentioned that one of my sister’s good friends from high school is in my group? I love that! I have always REALLY liked Lisa (and no, I don’t think she reads my blog so I’m not sucking up). Having her around once a week makes me feel closer to Kendra. I miss her. I miss all my sisters, even Craig.

Tags: a year of running, Fitness, motivation, running, training

Dropped the van off with Roy and rain home. I went kind of a meandering route because the weather was SO beautiful!

Took a picture of this house about half a mile from home. I always smile when I pass it because of the fence. It looks like someone had WAY too much fun with a jigsaw!

Run: MPHS to home
Mileage: 5:03
Time: 53:19
Weather: Warm and sunny, ran in a tank top
Listened to: Book “Brain Matters”
Blessing: Lots of kids out riding bikes today!
Total miles this week: 9:18

Tags: a year of running, exercise, Fitness, training

After a rough morning, Roy finally told me to go out for a run. I wasn’t feeling like it, but I did. I’m glad I did. I wasn’t out there two minutes before I just felt BETTER. I didn’t even listen to music. I just listened to birds sing.

I hit Starbucks and he joined me. We read the paper and talked, me in a much happier frame of mind. Then I ran over to Home Depot and he came behind with the van. We picked up some stuff, and did our shopping. The afternoon was spent reorganizing my office so clients can actually SIT IN IT, and cleaning the utility room.

Run: Starbucks!
Mileage: 4.15
Time: 43:45
Total mileage for week: 4:15
Blessing: Birds singing

Photo is a trillium flower I saw as I ran along the path behind Quil Ceda Village. Aren’t they beautiful?

Tags: a year of running, Fitness, training

A Year of Running April 23

Tonight I had late interviews that went from 4:00-6:00 and then had to jet to the high school for opening night of The Wedding Singer (my husband’s play). So that didn’t leave a lot of time to run. I decided to do 4-5 miles out on Airport Road, one of the unloveliest stretches of road in the world.

But yet I found these flowers in a tree in the parking lot of an old car lot/gas station. They were hanging off the tree so I just took out my camera, paused for a second, and snapped it off. I love the picture with the blue sky behind it! I also love how you can find beauty anywhere!

Run: Airport Road and Evergreen Way in Everett
Mileage: 5.17 miles
Time: 53 min
Blessing: Being greeted by one of my students as I ran back in
Weather: Sunny but chilly with some clouds

Tags: a year of running, Fitness, flowers, running, spring