monday in the park

Yesterday was the 37th annual Tufts 10K for Women on Boston Common. And it was Dawn's first ever 6.2! It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun running together, along with another great friend, Kirsten. I took my phone along to take some pics along the way as well as to alert Dawn's husband where we were and when we'd be getting to the finish line. Dawn planned for 12-15min miles, but ended up with 11:11min miles! She surprised herself! I am so proud of her and thankful for her friendship. It was a highlight to run together and see her accomplish a goal yesterday.

Another highlight was high-fiving Joan Benoit Samuelson at the finish - I may have cut off other runners to get over to her because I was SO excited to see her. She's pretty darn amazing...

Enjoy some photos from the awesome day:

i'd be lying

I saw a post from Runner's World on Facebook yesterday that made me a little sad: #marathonmonth has begun!! It begins with the Chicago Marathon on Sunday and ends with the New York Marathon on Nov 3rd. There are lots and lots of marathons nationwide in between (and surely before and after, as well).

Why might this make me sad? Well, simply because I am not running one this fall. I was supposed to, but my lack of training had me (wisely) deciding not to. I see post after post of countdowns, taper madness, building excitement, and inspirational stories. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to be posting those as well.

I've waited to run NYC for three years. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad to have to wait one more. All the excitement of Marathon Month always makes me wish I was running one in the fall, but then reality sets in - the reality of training through the long hot summer. On the flip side, training through the long(er) cold winter isn't the bee's knees either, but at least one doesn't have to get up at the crack of 5am to beat the weather on her days off...

So, I won't be running any marathons anytime soon, but I do have some fun races coming up. In fact, one of them is this coming Monday! The Tufts 10K for Women. Just how many women can fit on the Common? Yikes, we'll see... And of course, there's the Feaster Five on Thanksgiving Day. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited for that one! ;)

Also to note, the Insanity challenge is almost over! Just two and a half weeks to go. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ready for a new workout routine and the chance to run outside more...

in my blood

I casually stated to a friend the other day that I was not that competitive. She looked at my like I had four heads. "Yes. You. Are. You're being competitive about *not* being competitive." Well, she had a point. I was absolutely trying to prove that I was less competitive than another of our friends. Touche...

We're not all competitive. Some people couldn't care less about winning, being right, running faster, jumping higher, etc. But, some of us do. Perhaps it's something in our nature or perhaps it's something that we pick up from our parents or friends, a learned behavior. I know exactly where my competitiveness comes from: my mom. And hers comes from her mom. Grandma DeKoning was the sweetest lady - read the Bible every day, made THE BEST cinnamon rolls, always had candy in her pocketbook - but if you got into a game of cards with her, she would size you up and wipe the floor with you. She did not take it easy on anyone when it came to games. Even when she was close to the end of her life, if you took up a game of Skip-Bo with her, she'd get this gleam in her eye and win. Every time. My mom, therefore, is also pretty competitive. She loves to win and has learned how to lose graciously. Right, mom? ;)

So that's where it comes from. It's in my blood. From the time I started running, I had to realize that I would not be able to beat everyone. Ever. But I could beat my time. (And I could pick off a few people in front of me along the way - I haven't lost ALL of my outward competitive drive.) Mostly I realize that if I'm racing anyone, it's myself. It's feeling better, stronger at a distance I've done before. It's running a loop faster than I have before. It's doing the entire Insanity circuit without quitting again!

This mentality is hard to grasp at first. When you've got that drive, you want to go and beat all the other people on the course! But realistically that will not happen. So you've got to focus that energy into bettering yourself. When someone asks, "Did you win?" You can say, "Yeah, I did. I beat my previous time!" or "Yeah, I feel better about this distance than I ever have before!"

It's not about winning and beating everyone else. It's about developing yourself and getting stronger each and every time you head out the door.

the mental block

Saturday morning I woke up to an absolutely gorgeous fall day. If you typed "perfect Sept day" into Google, you'd have seen a picture of Saturday. It was supposed to be my final day of Insanity Recovery Week - which let's not fool ourselves, was not as much recovery as I'd have liked.

I could not bring myself to waste the day inside so I swapped the dvd workout for my first official Autumn run. Since it had been 2wks since I'd run at all (and 2mos since I'd run prior to that) I decided on my 4.5mi loop. But as I made my way over to the lake, I realized just how good it felt to be out running. I had missed it! As I got to the pretty side, I decided I might as well shoot for 5mi. By the time I got to the turn to make it 5mi even, I realized I still felt really good so why not shoot for 6, or heck!, even 6.6?! Then I figured, I might as well make one more turn, go up one more hill. I made it nearly 3mi further than I'd originally planned. Total mileage: 7.2mi. I guess I'm ready for the 10K I'll be doing on Oct 14th!

There's one thing that I think prevents us from achieving things we have the physical ability to do: the mental block. We tell ourselves there is no way we could do A, B, or especially C. I told myself that very thing on Saturday morning - before I did what I had to believe that I could.

One thing I have come to know in the past few years: YES, YOU CAN. You can run a 5K, you can do a Tough Mudder, you can get through 2 months of Insanity. So much of having the ability to do something is believing that you can. It takes work, it won't happen overnight. Just remember, "every morning is another chance to change your life."

And if you don't take my word for it, just ask: Meghan, Erika, Ben, Krista, Dawn, Jocelyn, Heidi, Andrew, Sarah, Josh, Karen, Nick, Nate, Karyn, Bonnie, Matt, Sarah, Valerie, Robert, ...need I go on?