Waiting to exhale

I only have a minute, but I have a question that has been in my mind for a while. I've been taking exercise classes and the instructor, like all the other ones I've had, tells us to exhale on exertion and inhale on the negative. How important is this?

Sometimes I feel like I'm hyperventilating if I do this and I don't need to breathe that often. Other times, my respirations are off -rhythm, but it doesn't bother me. So should I breathe when it feels like I need to or do as the instructor says?

BTW, I've found that although I'm very weak, my cardio fitness isn't that bad and my balance is really good. I did great on the Bosu ball, but I had trouble climbing stairs for a few days after! I'm really enjoying this class. It changes each time. I'm looking forward to our lifting day. Today we did Boot Camp but it felt more like a football practice. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow.

Oh, the humanity! (of the Human Race)

Ok - I will start by saying - I'm ok. And I really liked "racing against the world" as Nike put it... and it was fun to race with my friend anastasia (her first race ever!). With that out of the way....... this race was a grade A sh*t show.

Every single person was unhappy at the end - the course was just plain dangerous...but I'll get to that! First of all, the race started 45 minutes late (start time was supposed to be at 6pm). They made all 10,000 runners line up at 5pm. So, for nearly two hours, we stood in 87 degree temps and waited. And waited. It was stunning.

So, at 6:45 - we finally start running. Well, we don't...actually. It takes us 9 minutes to get to the start line... here's why. The "road" we ran on was 12 feet wide. Which may seem like a lot - but it's not. Especially not for 10,000 people... and, here's the best part.... you will not believe this.... you had to do two laps of the course, so the 12 feet wide road, quickly became 6 feet wide to share the road with the 6 minute milers and the 15 minute milers.

Did I mention the roads weren't paved? Because they weren't. It was gravel. With big rocks and occasional holes. I decided at mile 2, as the sun was setting (no, there was really no lighting) that I was just going to power walk the race and focus on finishing it safely.

Here's the best part - at one point, mile 3 for the slow pokes and mile six for the fast guys - the two lanes merged to go over a foot bridge that - NO JOKE - was maybe 5 feet wide - if that. So, we came to a standstill. I'm not kidding. I stood at that footbridge for 10 minutes. People were furious, screaming, pushing. It was not a pretty picture of "the human race". Oh - also? No portapotties on the course - I saw WAY too many p*nises (how do you make that plural?) - I felt like I was back at Angies house at bath time!

I digress.

So, people are literally losing it at the footbridge screaming that they wanted a refund.... turns out that someone was hurt on the five foot wide foot bridge and an ambulance came and got them. Ugh.

So, we're off again after 10 minutes.... and the people that lapped us are screaming "move it, move it, move it..." Holy crap. Seriously? It's not the Boston Marathon. Chill.

Mile four, Mile 5, Mile 6 - all fine. I'm power walking really doing great - passing runners... feeling great and safe and mature that I wasn't obsessed with running - I was obsessed with taking care of myself and having some fun.

Oh - here's my favorite part. Mile 5ish - I see a girl go down. So, there's an organizer next to me and I said - "there's a girl up there who looks like she's hurt" - he says "wha happen?" - which is New York for "excuse me, what did you say, Miss?" I repeat myself. And he says - "oh." and DOES NOTHING! Turns out she was just tying her shoe - but that's not the point!!!!

Did I mention I also ran this with one pupil dilated? It's a long story - but, added to the craziness of the day.

So, not unlike the Olympic Marathon, we finished in a stadium - it was so much fun to finish on a track!!! And - it was lit! And, there were no rocks! Beauty!!! So, finish. Run into Anastasia and quickly tell her that all races aren't like this! We were handed our medal and some hot water and a mushy power bar and sent on our way.

There was a concert - but interestingly, most runners left immediately after the race. A bunch of us talked on the way back to the city - it was so dangerous to have 10,000 runners on a course like this. It's a wonder no one was seriously hurt. We thought MAYBE the course could have handled 5,000. Maybe.

So. The human race. Wow. Glad I did it and glad it's over! :-) Cathy

The Human Race!

So on Sunday, I, and a big chunk of the rest of the world, will be running in the Nike Human Race. It's a relatively flat 10k course and will mark my biggest run in some time. I'm excited about it. Tonight I pick up the race gear. All runners must wear the race tshirt, it's just going to look SOOOOOO neat!! I think this is going to be a very, very cool experience.

I've been in the gym a lot - but find myself on the bike more than anything. That's something that came out of tri-training - I adore doing the random hill course at a challenging level for an hour. There's something I love about saying I bike 21 miles today....!

The weather's starting to turn in NYC - it ALMOST feels like Fall - so, soon enough, I'll be out and about in Central Park. I'll be doing their fall race series - which I just love.

I hope all of you are doing well!!! I will let you know how the race goes!

Did you guys watch the women's marathon? Unreal. Dita blew the others away and at age 38! There's hope for me yet. Ha! How do they still have something left to run a victory lap? I started to wonder if she knew she could quit running! I just can't fathom a 5:25 mile, let alone 26.2 of them. I couldn't even run that pace for a quarter mile.

And Dara Torres in the pool? She's like 41 or something isn't she? These "old" ladies are really impressive. I love the Olympics!

Olympics

Are you guys watching the Olympics? WOW! I love the summer games. Beautiful athletes, strong bodies, determined attitudes. Makes it easy to go to the gym tomorrow.

The Balancing Act

I promise I am still out here. Life has been so very crazy these last few weeks. I started work last week as the Fitness & Group Exercise Manager and I love it. However, it is a balancing act that will require more work. I leave for Dallas this weekend.

I am still getting my miles in, but I have had to compromise a bit and tell myself that 27 miles is close enough to 30 to call it a good week. I am still lifting 3x a week and really working the functional training. I have really enjoyed working on the TRX system of suspension training. I will be certified on that in September.

Tanner started school today so things should get a bit easier to juggle. Between the Brigade, the job, the family, my training, and studying, my eyes look like I am putting in 60+ hour weeks. Oh wait, I am!

I just registered the kids for school and found out their last day is mid-May. So I started to get an idea. Usually the schools have a date that they will count as completing the school year, even though it's a couple weeks before the last day of school. Hmmm....if this date is early enough, perhaps I could make it to Indianapolis in time to run the Mini-Marathon (half) on May 2.

It would be so easy with parents available to babysit, running on my home turf, and an extremely flat course. I might get heat stroke going from this climate to that one, but I'll take my chances.

I'm so excited about the possibility! I'm definitely going to check this out.

Happy Birthday V!

V!!!!! You look absolutely fantastic and hope you had a great day celebrating! I love your new running buddies! Pretty amazing that even one of them can keep up with you. My family's really involved in dog rescue and one of the great fallacies out there is that ALL dogs are runners. They aren't. Some are meant to run long distances but some couldn't care less about running. Glad you found a kindred spirit in at least one of them!! :-)

Fort Bliss looks gorgeous. Who knew?! Stunning. I was up visiting angie at Fort Drum recently...stunning in a different way. It was really pretty but it rains a lot!!! I guess it's due to being so close to a great lake....

I'm doing well down in NYC (I'm not going to complain about the 90 degree heat so as not to upset E ... :-) !!!) It's hot though. I'm getting excited for my race next month. Really excited, actually. I hit my stride last weekend on my long run. It felt great. I had forgotten how much I love getting past mile 3 and just settling in to the zone. I almost get hypnotized a bit. Sounds silly. Anyway, now that I'm not thinking - I need to bike 30 miles after this or that was a lousy swim I just did - I'm just able to enjoy the purity of my feet hitting the pavement and let myself kinda sink into that mode. I love it. I missed it. I need to think about why that wasn't enough for me. There's still much for me to conquer in the world of running. I can get faster and I can go longer.

That's it on my end. All best girls. C

Happy Birthday to Me!

I am 43 years old today. I have been running for 8 years now. For the last 5 years, I've made it a priority to run on my birthday. I savor it and I am so thankful that I can. Here's to another year of counting miles.

V. and Rachel--you both look great! Cathy--good luck with the Nike Human Race! I'm jealous of everyone. I wish I was in shape enough for a 10K and if I hear one more person complain about 90 degree temps I'll scream! Our low last night was 35! It did make it up to 70 today though, first time it's been out of the 50s in a week. Everyone keeps telling me this has been a particularly cool summer, even by Alaska standards, but that doesn't make it any better.

I've been swamped trying to get through my cardboard castle, but I can see the carpet now so I know I'm making progress. I finally found my scale. (As if I'd been looking for it) The good news is I've lost weight in the last 6 weeks, which is a huge accomplishment during a PCS. The bad news is that it was only 2 lbs so I still have 7 to go.

I have used my treadmill twice now. I have two training plans I'm following. I was going to go with the New Runner plan since it's been so long and I feel so out of shape, but I was able to do the Fit Beginner workout so I went with that. It was only 2+ miles. It took me a mile to get the kinks worked out, but then I felt great and remembered why I run. No muscle soreness or achy joints. The only problem is my pelvis. It's still not back to normal. It's mostly a strength issue I think, but I don't know what exercises to do. Lower abs, back, or hips? Probably all. Any advice?

My new snacks are rice cakes, particularly the chocolate and caramel ones. If you take a chocolate one and spread a very thin layer of peanut butter on it so you don't drown out the chocolate, then close your eyes, click your heels and say, "there's nothing like a Reese's cup" three times, then it kinda' tastes like one. Who am I kidding? :) It does take the edge off my sweet tooth though and the kids love that they can have as much of this kind of "chocolate" as they want.