We Went Running Update

I believe a brief update is in order.

When Jordan and I first planned to run a marathon we both worked 9-5 jobs more or less. We had time on our hands. We wanted something to test our limits. For me that hasn't changed. I'm doing the same thing I've been doing for the last year and then some. Jordan, however, is going places!

After several months as an intern for Roxanne Conlin she was offered a full-time job! She works to raise money for this amazing Senate hopeful and I am so proud of her. However, she's gone from 9-5 to about 6-midnight (on a good day). A campaign is demanding and Jordan is impressively meeting these demands. Conlin won the primary and is now facing career politician and incumbent by the name of Grassley. Jordan, like the rest of team Conlin, is giving it her all. She is certainly testing her limits!

So this time around it's just me marathon-ing. I considered switching to a different blog since the "we" seems out of place in light of the recent changes. But the more I thought about what it takes to run a marathon--confidence, support, dedication, focus--the more I realized how much of my ability to run this marathon is based on my friendship with Jordan. She is one amazing Homer. My college roommate for four years and best buddy for life, she's helped me keep going when I knew for sure I couldn't.

I wouldn't be here without Jordan and so in a very true sense, we still went running. Join us.

Week One=FINISHED!

Whoa. I just completed my first week of marathon training. That's four more days of running than I thought I was capable of!

After a lovely day in Osaka/Kobe me and my lovely boyfriend, Stephen, got back to Oku and immediately fell asleep at 10:30pm. We got up at 3:00am to watch the England vs. USA World Cup match. Due to a heart-breaking (for England fans!) error by the goalie Green it was 1-1.

USA! USA! USA!

After the game at 5:30am I went shopping at the 24-hour supermarket near my home. My intention was to then run so that I didn't have run in the summer heat. But it was lightly raining and cool so I went back to bed for another three hours. I woke up to rain. Real rain, not light rain.

Damn, I thought.

And then I went running. After thinking about my previous three runs and reading accounts of other first time marathoners in The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer I decided I had been going too easy on myself. On Friday I decided I would run all 5 miles without walking.

Mile 1: running 12 minutes. Mile 2: running 14 minutes. Mile 3: running 12 minutes. Mile 4: running 13 minutes. Mile 5: running 12 minutes.

When I'm strongest and most focused I run a mile in about 12 minutes. Hmm.

My first mile I let my mind wander; it seems that the novelty of running a first mile is enough to propel me with minimal effort. The second mile I was focusing on the pain in my ankles and knees and hips and this negativity really shows in my performance! By the third mile I realized I needed a mantra or I wasn't gonna make it. Focusing on how hard running is wasn't cutting it, believe it or not.

"Claire's doing this for her. You're doing this for you. I'm doing this for me."

And that's how I passed three miles. Sometimes I just used it to focus my breathing and strides. Other times I thought about different times other people or I would say each sentence. I felt strong.

I took a water break every two miles and a couple breaks per mile to stretch.

My RPE was 4 again. All the additional effort today was mental effort, just to keep going. It amazes me how tough my body is but how weak my will is. I always assumed it'd be the other way around. I thought my mind was pretty tough!

This week I ran 15 miles total. Whoa.

Let's Running.

3 Sleepy Miles in a Sleepy Town

It's Thursday. I am always exhausted by Thursday. I work at a junior high school. No explanation needed, probably. But not only is this Thursday, it's a Thursday in a week that has had me up about an hour earlier than usual.

My alarm buzzed. I wanted to kill it. I am unfriendly at 6:00AM. Probably just as well it's only me and Godzilla the spider who's taken up residence in my shower.

Miraculously, I was out of the house at 6:20AM to start my 3 miles. And my miraculously of course I mean that I chatted with myself, "Just get up, Claire. Just tie your shoes, Claire. Just fill up the water bottle, Claire." Sometimes "just" is a limiting, unimaginative word. In this case, I want limits, though. I want to convince myself that difficult things are really just little things.

Little things like my town. Oh Oku! In bed by 9:00 and up no earlier than 7:00. Even the traffic lights believe in this routine. Yesterday when I was out past the magic morning time I had to wait at crossings because the lights turn on at 7:00AM. Curious to know when they go off.

Today my body wasn't weak but my mind was so so sleepy. I think it's clear this training is going to be about my mind's endurance as much as my muscles'. Despite the sleepy mind I was able to run all three miles in the same time: 13 minutes running and 4 walking. I didn't think I was that slow but I just checked my notes and, yes I am in fact that slow. For now.

Today was the first time I didn't stretch between miles. I just briefly stopped for sips of water. I completed my last mile saying, "Run because you have to."

After running I love stretching. It's so relieving. I'm addicted. Right now I stretch for about 5 minutes after my run but I imagine as my runs get longer I'll stretch for longer too. I'm looking forward to that!

Let's Running.

My First 4-Mile Run :)

I woke up later than I wanted to and stared my run at 6:12AM.

I focused on consistency because my run yesterday was so undisciplined. Mile one and two I ran 10 and walked 3 minutes. Mile three I slowed down quite a bit. I was focusing on the fact that I had to run yet another mile and it was getting late so I knew I'd have to rush to make it to work on time. It's amazing because I'd think something like running, something we do as children without thinking, something we've been doing for as long as we've been we, wouldn't take much concentration. But it does!

After a sloppy mile of 8 minutes walking and 7 running I realized I needed to pick it up on my last mile to get back to my house in time to stretch, shower, and eat breakfast. I considered shortening it or skipping it altogether but then I remembered one of my simple mantras, "Run because you have to." I ran 9 and walked 2 minutes. By then the sun had peeked out from the clouds and I was panting and sweaty. A vision into my last weeks in Japan!

Mentally, today was bit more tough since I had to convince myself to keep running that last mile. But physically it was more or less as difficult as yesterday so my RPE was 4 today as well. My last mile felt very smooth, a great pace and stride. Probably because I knew it was my last :)

My legs were sore and weak directly after but throughout the day I didn't notice any pain. My toes on my right foot have been tender all day. Like blisters just without the blisters. I should watch out. That would be so uncomfortable!

Mostly my mind wandered today to thoughts of my fast-approaching homecoming which passed the time. I want to try to be present in my training, to focus. There's a balance though, I think.

Let's Running.

Week One Day One

I mapped a one mile course from my house that I'd run three times, stopping for water after each mile. I have a tendency to not sweat properly and so get over-heated easily. It's still cool in the early morning but I didn't want to take any chances. I used the super helpful site MapMyRun to make the course.

I completed the 3 miles in 40 minutes. I stared out at 6:15am. The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer asks us to log our "Ratings of Perceived Exertion" or "RPE." Basically to note how difficult the run felt. I logged this one as a 4 (somewhat hard effort) on a 10 point scale.

My first mile I completed in 11 minutes without walking. My second mile I completed in 13 minutes with 6 minutes of walking. The last mile I completed in 16 minutes with 11 minutes of walking. Every mile I stopped at my house for water and to stretch out my legs. My calf and shin muscles were extremely tight.

I think I'll walk some of the first mile tomorrow so that I can maintain more balanced miles. Overall, it wasn't as terrible as I feared. I didn't hurt myself and I completed it. With lots of sweating and walking, but I completed it. And that's what I'm here to do. To run until it's time to stop. Motivation is easier when I know I HAVE to run to this much if I want to do the marathon.

I always like stretching afterward. Lately my low back has been aching and the stretches really help. My legs were weak directly after the run but throughout the day I had no aches.

I didn't need to focus too much in order to finish but I did have a couple things running through my head during the run: "You have to run" and "Just run until it's time to stop" and "This is a great mile! Next mile will be a great mile!"

Lastly, I'm reading Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. He's an author I really like and his perspective on running and writing is interesting. He's about two decades into his running career so a little out of my league just yet but helpful nonetheless. I've found that although running is a solitary thing I really get motivation from other people's experiences and words. I think I'll keep looking out for running memoirs.

Let's Running.

It's on Folks!

Following a not so brief hiatus, I am happy to announce that, it's on folks! We're running again.

Brief update (Claire): I more or less ran twice a week until the winter. I don't have central heating in my house and that makes for a cold morning. Also, my junior high school, like most across Japan, doesn't have central heating and uses kerosene space heaters sparingly. Running before or after school was a terribly unattractive option and since the marathon was months and months away my motivation took a nose dive. Also, I have a job interview and a friend's wedding in October so the Chicago Marathon is out.

Quad Cities Marathon? IN! September 26th we'll finish our first marathon.

Tomorrow I will start the official marathon training. My pre-training has been consistent but sparse. Instead of four times a week I've been running about twice a week for the past three weeks. I am very intimidated by the 3 miles I need to run tomorrow morning.

I've been having two thoughts run through my head, "Just run until it's time to stop" and "You always have more strength." The first I got from the book we're following The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. The second I wrote in my journal during my trip to the Philippines with Habitat for Humanity. We mixed concrete was manually. Pour in mix, pour in water, add dirt, grab shovel, and stir. After a day in the terrifically hot sun doing this I knew I'd avoid this station the next day. Next day came and I was somehow at the concrete mixing station again. So I did it. And that night I marveled at how when you need to do something, there's always more strength left in you.

Let's running!

First Race: T-Minus About a Month

This summer when me and Homer decided we'd run a marathon I decided to talk to some friends about it, ya know, make the commitment real. And actually I have three other friends now in Japan who started running around that same time. While none of them have marathon aspirations (yet! I've almost converted one of them) it's nice to have the occasional running buddy when we get together once every couple of months. Company is good motivation.

So are goals.

Like a marathon. But to be honest, as I still struggle to regularly run for thirty minutes a couple times a week, 26.2 miles seems a bit impossible. I'm not focusing on that; I know I'm training one step at a time and I also know I'll run that damn marathon. But right now, almost a year and about 25.2 miles away from my goal, I'm finding that goal not enough to keep me going.

Training for a marathon is fun in a lot of ways. One way is how many times you have to re-invent yourself, your approach. How many times you just need to try again.

Already, even before the official marathon training begins, I've used a whole lot of things to motivate myself. Motivation not only to do the run but to keep going once I'm out there.

And the newest motivation: my first 5k! I'll be running it with my friends December 13th. Until then (if i keep on schedule) I have 15 more runs. That should put me in good condition to do the race.

Knowing I'm going to have to run 5k in about a month one way or another is helping to keep me on track.

keep on keeping on,
claire

(Go Bears! I hate Favre!)