I Am a Runner!!

I had a nice chat with my running buddy from Montana the other day.  My friend Amy and I have been friends since middle school.  She is my best friend's little sister.  We were part of a pretty awesome 2 mile relay team in high school.  That was the first  experienced I had of working towards a goal as an individual and as a team all in one.  Every meet we ran in we had a goal to better our time and we worked together in practice to achieve this.  We did it too!  We might not have been the fastest bunch all together but we were dedicated and committed to each other and our goal.  We set a school record and metaled at the conference meet to boot!

Cathy, Paige, Amy & Shelly 2 mile relay 1987

So in our conversation were discussing how runners are a whole breed of their own!  Anyone who is a runner can relate here.  I told her that being on a cross country team while in school is full of all kinds of life lessons.  Goal setting is the major one.  I feel a good coach encourages and requires the team to make goals individual and as a team.  How can you strive to get somewhere if there is no goal in sight?  Running accomplishes this.  Kids learn to set those goals, devise a plan (workout) to get there and then ultimately becomes successful in reaching their goal and then moves on to setting a new goal.  Life is like that as well if you have no goal, no purpose you will just run circles and never get anywhere or accomplish what you want.  Set a goal derive a plan and meet that goal!  Yes there are obstacles in running an injury some really awful weather and in life an unexpected thing could happen like being laid off or your car motor blowing up. Running also makes a person become resilient.  You learn to push through, to get back up and finish and it becomes a habit to just get up everyday and run.

I never experienced running on a cross country team until college.  I was recruited to run track and play basketball and the track coach talked me into running cross country.  I was a ballplayer and a sprinter I never ran farther than 5 miles until that summer before my freshman year of college.  I remember the friends I made and the races I ran in but I was still a sprinter at heart.  Well the sprinter in me is gone and now i am a true long distance runner and i love everything about it.  I have to laugh because it is so ironic that for the longest time I was trying to run away from my "jock type runner image" that now in my 40's I am OK with that image, that is who I am.  I am also a wife, mom, teacher, sister etc. but for sure I am a Runner!

My University Has Let Me Down

While looking on my Alma mater's website at the upcoming homecoming activities I took a moment to check out the women's track and cross country pages.  They had the school records archived there.  They even went to the trouble of having the top ten times jumps or throws as well.  I was dismayed to find my name no where to be found.  My freshman year I set the school record in the 60 meter dash (indoor track) and tied the NCCAA record.  (national christian college athletic association)  After looking at the long jump best 10 jumps I should have been about fifth on that list as well.  When I checked out the cross country records they had all the girls who ran under 19 minutes on there.  I was not one of those girls, but my teammate Tina should have been in there she always ran constantly low 18s the whole season I ran with her.  I wonder now if it was just our coach at the time not recording this or if it was an oversight by the college.  I have my medals, my memories and my newspaper clippings so I have all the proof I need it would just be nice to receive the recognition due us.  I am not going to approach the college about this I do not want to start a ruckus I did not have the best experiences there, it definatley was not a good fit for me at the time.

Onward to better things.  My training has been consistanly better.  My times in my speed work have been coming down and I can tell in my other runs through the week how it has helped.  I had a great long run today I just felt like running so I did.  I held an easy 8:50 pace for almost 12 miles.  I was happy with that.  I am finding it much more productive if I just go out and run and only time the total run.  I am leaving my Garmin home for most runs and just wearing my Timex to get total time.  I am more relaxed when I am not focused on my pace. 

During my long run today my mind drifted off and then I found myself going over multiplication facts in my head.  I have no idea why but I was 12 x 12 is 144 then I would go on with 12 x 13 etc.  It was crazy so then I started focusing on the music coming through my head phones.  Then I turned that down and listened to the leaves crunching beneath my Nikes.  I had a nice mixture of running down the trail, then around the village of Concord then back to the trail and then around my short block down the gravel roads.  It was a great run!!

We will see what this week has in store I have to work lots of late nights because of Open House at my two different centers.  So I might find myself running in the morning, maybe at night with a head lamp or on my treadmill that I snagged off Craigslist last week.  I will let you know next time! Peace Out!