Wannabe Runner

When I woke up this morning, I laid in bed trying to decide wether to close my eyes and go back to sleep, or get up and go for a run. I've been out of the habit of running for a while, since I rolled my ankle hiking Mt. Bierstadt. It's hard to get back to the point where it's easy to get up and go. Or well, to the point that it's easier to get out of bed to go running. I had to give myself a pep talk, or rather debate with myself. It went something like this...

You know you want to run a 5K before the end of the year...

But I was sleeping so well, I could get at least another half hour...

You'll sleep better tonight if you run this morning.

Maybe.

You know you'll feel great the rest of the day if you go. 

The bedroom is cold, it'll be colder outside.

Perfect temperature for running!

Hmph.

You can wear your Slacker long sleeve shirt!

Great, I probably won't be able to fall back asleep now.

Your Nike+ mini (screen saver) will stop whining.

Who cares, I'm deleting the stupid Nike+ mini

It will be awesomeness, the weather is perfect.

You won't meet your goals if you stay here.

Ugh. OK. 

So, I did the hardest part and got up and got dressed. I ran. I didn't get a runner's high like I did last time, but it was a good run. It was the longest I've run in over a year - 25 minutes of running (or jogging depending on how you define it) straight. I feel good about it :). I'm so glad I got my butt in gear this morning and just DID IT.

When I went to sync up my iPhone with Nike+ afterwards, I saw this video posted on my friend's wall on facebook. I'm still thinking about it hours later, so I thought I'd share it here.

Talk about inspiring! The body is such an amazing thing. I love watching people learn this for themselves. Learn that they can do ANYTHING with determination. You can also check out his blog, Ben Does Life.

I'm a wannabe runner.

I couldn't run a mile until I was 29 years old. I never had the desire to.... and when I was younger I'd laugh at the idea of people running to run, and not because they were being chased. I have friends that are runners, and I'm not sure how it happened but they must have rubbed off on me. Or maybe I just wanted to defy turning 30, but I got the bug. I completed the Couch to 5K (C25K) training program, and then I ran my first 5K in January of 2008.

I'd like to say that I've been an avid runner ever since, but unfortunately, no. Though I had fallen in love with running, which for me become a therapy of sorts... I had some issues with my right knee after starting the One Hour Runner program, which I started because I wanted to run a faster 5K, and eventually a 10K. However, every time I hit about 4 miles, something funky happened to my knee and it made me back off... Then summer came with temperatures in the 90s/100s, I found some more excuses, and I pretty much stopped running altogether except for the occasional short run. I missed it. Really missed it. Then we moved to Colorado, and being so close to trails, I was excited to get back into running again. I wanted to try to strengthen up my knee, and go to a doctor if necessary to figure it out.

I thought I was gonna die on my first run. My heart was going to burst out of my chest. Darn altitude. Eventually I decided I should just re-do the C25K program and gradually work back up to running. It was all going great, and I was scoping out my next 5K when I rolled my ankle about a month ago. That was a huge bummer. I have a weak right ankle (which is most likely related to the knee issue I have), but it had been doing so well for a long time.

Earlier this week I returned to the program since I felt more confident about my ankle. I started where I left off, by repeating week 6 day 2 and was shocked by how awesome I felt. First of all I ran further (which means faster) than I had the last time, and I didn't feel like I was dying, in fact, I felt great! This was shocking to me since a) I hadn't ran in almost a month, and b) I had been expecting to struggle since I'd heard (from multiple sources) that stopping for more than a week and starting again, at altitude, you have to adjust again. All I can think of is that my hiking has kept me in better shape than I had thought. I have been hiking at around 8-10,000 ft so I'm guessing it helped keep me in some sort of condition, making running at ~5,500 ft not as difficult as it would have been... had I done nothing. Seriously, the body is amazing in how it is constantly adapting, and able to change. All we have to do is push ourselves.

Wow, this got long! Sorry for the rambling if you made it this far :). I guess that's what an inspiring video that makes me cry does to me!

Happy Earth Day!

I have neglected this blog recently, as I have been busy enjoying spring in Colorado! However, I had to drop in and wish everyone a Happy Earth Day! I was all revved up to volunteer today but I guess I waited too long. I was turned away last week from volunteer opportunities around here for today and Saturday because they are all full. Apparently there are a bunch of tree huggers living here besides me :). Have I mentioned lately how much I love this state? I plan to do some catch up posts about some of our hikes but here are a couple of pictures until then.

Koda and I taking a rest at Red Rocks

View of Mt. Evans from the summit of Evergreen Mountain

Forsythia

Since spring has arrived and the weather has been gorgeous (in general, today it's stormy and rainy) we have been hiking as much as possible... at least twice a week. It would be 4 times this week if the rain hadn't decided to show up! I really can't complain about the rain though, it's making our lawn green and all the trees and flowers bloom. I need to take pictures of the flowers in our yard... we have daffodils, tulips, and a huge forsythia bush (picture to the left, but not of ours...)

Saturday, to celebrate Earth Day we plan to hike Bergen Peak which is at 9,708 ft! I'll admit I'm a little nervous as it's a 9 mile hike with 2,100' change of elevation. But I need this challenge to get into better shape to hike 14er's this summer.

What are you doing to celebrate Earth Day? Do you plan to make any "go green" changes?

How to protect the oceans

This must watch video of TED prize winner and legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle's speech is 18 minutes long... it is definitely worth the time to watch, to contemplate her message, and hope her wish comes true! Before viewing this video, I hadn't heard of the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference that is held each year in Long Beach, California. TED's mission is simply defined as "ideas worth sharing", and the talks (a broad range of topics) are available to view on TED's YouTube page. But before you go explore the talks, you have to watch this first!

To watch in high quality click here.

So how can WE help protect the oceans? How about -

• Discarding waste properly
• Reducing the amount of packaging we consume
• Being conscientious of where the fish we eat comes from, and only eating seafood that is sustainably harvested (ask, do research... this makes me re-think how often I eat sushi)
• Wearing non-toxic sunscreen (did you know that the chemicals in sunscreen kill the coral reefs?)
  

This summer Project Kaisei will begin, and I'm looking forward to hearing of their findings and progress!

"Project Kaisei consists of a team of innovators, ocean lovers, sailors, scientists, sports enthusiasts and environmentalists who have come together with a common purpose. To study how to capture plastic waste in the ocean and how to capture, detoxify and recycle it into diesel fuel. This first research Mission, scheduled for the summer of 2009, will be critical to understanding the logistics that will be needed to make a successful clean-up operation possible as some of the technology required for such a feat has never been utilised under oceanic conditions."

Read all about their planned 70 day expedition to the "Plastic Vortex" this summer, and how you can contribute here.