Thankful

Last year, on Facebook, I posted something  I was thankful for every day in November.  I know I am a bit late on this, considering Thanksgiving has come and gone and it is the last day of November, but I think giving thanks is something that can be done every day.  This year was, by far, the hardest Thanksgiving I have ever faced.  Even with an extremely difficult situation in life, I can say I am very thankful for some key things.

1. A strong marriage.  We have been through a lot the past two years.  The last few months have been extremely stressful.  I have been known to take out my frustrations on the closest person, my husband.  We’re both short tempered and therefore tend to argue (and to be honest, it is often due to me overreacting).  If our marriage didn’t have such a strong foundation, I don’t think it could have survived this.  I know that once we get through all this, we’ll be better than ever.  I know I have a partner in life and we have been tested with the “worse” part of “better or worse.”

2. Happy and healthy kids.  My kids make me smile every day.  Even when I am depressed (which seems to happen more often), my kids can snap me out of it.  I haven’t been the best mother lately, but they have been the best kids.  On those days when I just want to lay on the couch an do nothing, inevitably my kids will need me.  They will need comforting or help with homework or someone to watch them dance.  How can I wallow in my own self-pity when there are two great kids right here.   Often, when I am lamenting over our situation, I remind myself that there are parents out there who aren’t so fortunate to be able to watch their kids laugh or attack them as a tickle monster.  For this, I am truly blessed.

3. A wonderful network of friends and family. I have always been very proud.  I was independent and self-sufficient from a very early age.  I was the one in my family who packed up my belongings and moved to a different state “just because.”  Accepting help has never been in my comfort zone, let alone asking for it.  Twelve months of unemployment have taught me a little about pride.  I have learned to accept “charity” from friends and family, knowing that soon enough, I will be able to pay it forward.  I have been so fortunate to meet some great people through my running.  These generous people have helped us network for jobs, given me free massages, paid for race entries and been there for me in so many ways.  My family is really pitching in to ensure that my children have one of their best Christmases yet.

4. My running. Running is a relatively new thing for me.  I started running, in earnest, in 2008.  Before that, I probably never ran more than two or three miles at a time (other than my very first 10k in the summer of 2007).  I am so thankful that I am healthy enough to be able to run.  Running keeps me healthy, gives me my mommy “alone time,” and keeps me sane.  More than anything, running has given me my social outlet.  Since moving here a little more than a year ago, I have met some fantastic people (as mentioned above).  I would not have been able to get so close to these women without the quality time we spend running.

We had a lady snap a picture of us during one of our pre-dawn runs.  This is the main group that runs each morning.  Some times there are more and sometimes fewer, but I haven’t had to run by myself in quite a while.

Even though my life is difficult and sometimes feels a bit hopeless, I do realize how truly lucky I am.   I know his is a running blog and I try to keep things mostly about my running, leaving the other stuff to my other blog.  However, running has become such a big part of my life, so I wanted to post this here.  Thanks for reading.

Happy running.

*Coming soon: Dana Point Turkey Trot Race Report

Wild Runs and Wild Life

I haven’t blogged in two weeks.  Bad blogger.  School started this morning and in the past couple of weeks we seemed to be busy squeezing all we could out of the summer.  I am going to use this post to recap some of my runs over the past couple of weeks.

Last Saturday, we had a great long run down at the beach.  The weather was still uncharacteristically cool and the sun didn’t come out at the beach our entire run.  I had twenty on my schedule, but Kelly and Joan wanted to do eighteen.  I took the long way to get to Kelly’s house before driving to the pier and gave myself almost a two mile head start.  We ended up running nineteen, giving me twenty one for the day!  We ran up to “the water tower.”  I had never been on this run, but it was obvious where our turnaround spot was.  The crazy thing is that the water tower is an actual home!  They apparently live up in the round part of the tower.  Cool!


That Tuesday, I met Joan for a run in the trails.  She had shown me a fabulous trail off Weir Canyon the week before and I was eager to run it again.  It has a lot of hills and mostly single track.  At one point, we ran through a tunnel under a road.  I don't mean an underpass, but an honest-to-goodness tunnel.  At one point we couldn’t see our feet, even though we could see the light coming through the other end.  Trippy.

Joan realized that trails don’t scare me.  I don’t worry about getting lost and am willing to try a new one if it means finding a fun new route.  She asked if I wanted to try a trail she had always wanted to explore, but didn’t want to do it alone.  Of course I would!  From this point on, we explored the area, trying new trails and some areas that weren’t even trails.  We battled overgrown brush and even some giant spiders.  Yuck!

At one point, we looked up at the top of the hill and saw a deer.  We stopped and tried to wait for him to run down the hill, but he/she saw us and was willing to wait us out.  I am glad that the deer is as far as the wild life got that day.  We were out a bit later than normal and the sun was really starting to get hot.  I was very worried about seeing a snake (I HATE SNAKES), and thank goodness I didn’t.

I met Marci last Wednesday for an eight miles tempo run.  We did a good job of keeping our pace faster than marathon pace (8:45), but not quite to half marathon pace (a little over 8:00).  Most of our tempo miles were right around 8:30.  It felt good to work a little harder and remind my legs how to run a bit faster.   We ran through a neighborhood that had a lot of horse properties.  Every other house or so had a stable or corral and horses.  I was taken by surprise when I saw a ZEBRA!
You can see his buddy the llama (or alpaca) coming up behind him.  These people also had an ostrich, a pot-bellied pig, more llamas and a bunch of donkeys.   You really don’t see that every day!

We have run a couple times in the last week into the Boy Scout camp just past Irvine Park.  It is a great hilly run with a lot to see.  How beautiful is this run??
  
Yesterday, we saw a different kind of critter.  No deer or even coyotes were spotted.  Just an incredibly creepy crawly.

Joan put her hand down to give reference to show how big this thing was.  Ewwwwww.
   
And, of course, we run our beloved Santiago Creek at least once a week.  I never get tired of this place to run.  Now that we have branched out and tried new trails from this route, I know I’ll never get bored here.  There are so many trails and so many kinds of terrain.


In the middle of all these great runs was a little race called the LA Mud Run.  I will post a race report soon.  I still have to get the pictures developed, and that is something I am not used to doing.  I ran with a disposable water proof camera so I am hoping for some fun muddy pictures.

I am so lucky to live so close to such fabulous places to run.  Add all the wonderful people I have met to run with, this is turning out to be a great training cycle!

Happy Running!

Back in the swing of things

I went from practically no running last week to running over 40 this week.*  I can’t really pat myself on the back for my motivation.  My added mileage this week is mostly due to me not wanting to let my friends down.  It is good, although I vaguely remember a story told in my RRCA training program of a guy (or is it a dog?) who never says no to a run and ends up burning out.  I won’t let that happen.

My friend Heidi texted me Sunday to see if I wanted to run during our kids’ dance class the next day.  I had run a good 9.5 miles Sunday, but didn’t run on Saturday.  Even though I don’t normally run on Mondays, I thought it would be a good idea.  Then later that night, my friend Kelly (who happens to be Heidi’s sister) texted me and asked if I would do a long run with her Monday early.  She had missed doing a long run on the weekend and is planning a half marathon next week and wanted to get in some mileage.  Since I am encouraging her to do it, I felt like I should run with her.  We ran almost nine miles before 7 a.m.**

When I got to dance class, I knew that Heidi was ready to go for a run.  I knew if I didn’t go with her, she wouldn’t go.  I had promised her first and it wouldn’t be fair to blow her off because I ran with Kelly earlier.  Heidi and I ran a little over three miles, giving me close to 12 miles for the morning.

I ran another eight miles on Wednesday before 7 a.m., as well as my normal five miles on Thursday.
I am aware that I can do too much.  I have been listening to my body and actually told Kelly no for a longer run on Thursday.  I knew that I had had enough.

I am liking that my running buddies are kicking it up a notch.  It helps to motivate me.  Knowing that Kelly is meeting me in the pre-dawn darkness to run is a good reason to drag myself out of bed.  I can’t let her down.  Now that I know that starting at 5 a.m. is not only possible, but pleasant, I am confident I can get those extra miles in over these next few months.

Happy running…

*this depends on the length of my run tomorrow morning, but we are planning on running 8-9 miles, which will bring my weekly total to around 43.
**Kelly did less since I ran home from her house, which is about 3/4 of a mile.

Serendipity

Serendipity: is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something entirely unrelated.

As many of you know, my life has been quite chaotic lately. I'm a single mom during the week while my husband is working two hours north. I have had to rent out our house and get it ready for the tenants to move in. I recently discovered that finding a place to rent is not that easy and I made two trips to our new stomping grounds to secure a home for our family so we don't have to live out of our cars.

Through all of this, I am sad to leave a city I love, incredible friends and a newly formed running group (of said friends) . The idea of starting over socially is just as scary as anything else. Enter serendipity.

I was checking out a condo to possibly rent and met a woman who is an Ironman alum!! When I pulled up to the condo and saw a woman in a tech shirt, running shoes and shorts and a visor, I knew I was dealing with good people. She and I spent more time talking about running, biking and swimming than we did lease terms and square footage. We seem to run about the same pace (her half marathon PR is very similar to mine). When I asked her if she ran with a group, she said no. The gears started turning. She talked about a twenty mile run that goes from Yorba Linda (where we are moving) to the beach along the Santa Ana River. She has always wanted to do it, but didn't want to do it by herself. I practically jumped up and down and squealed, "I will! I will!" As a matter of fact, as I think back, I may have actually done that.

We have exchanged information and have tentatively planned to go on a run together. It may seem like a little thing, but after the last couple of weeks, meeting a potential running partner is HUGE.

I think my life is starting to fall into place. We are moving this weekend and then I can start on the next chapter of my life.