MUST DO THIS FALL

SNAPSHOT

Witness strength at Cross Country meets this fall.

DIGGING DEEPER

Google your local high school or college cross country team. Locate their season's racing schedule. Mark your calendar and show up.

You don't need to know anyone racing, their singlets will have their school name on them.  And most races are free to watch.

You won't regret it!

• Wear your walking shoes and leave the foldable chair in the car.  This is an interactive sport!  
• Arrive 30 minutes before the start of the races. You will need time to park and walk to the start line.  There will be several races during the meet.  Boys/men and girls/women teams will race separately.  Plus there will be different levels of races: Middle School, Junior Varsity, and Varsity.

• Find the start line - If you don't know where it is, ask around, it is the common question. 
• Look out for a map of the course and take a picture of it with your phone.  Then pinpoint a central location to view the race.  Many racecourses are spectator friendly and loop around giving you several chances to cheer.

• Follow the crowd for viewing all the action.  The parents and teammates will dart off to the next best spot to view the race.
• Cheer often and for everyone!
• Soak in the beauty of the park or golf course.
• Understand the sacrifice and devotion of the athletes.  Many have trained 6 days a week all summer in the heat, often on their own.

SOLUTION

Running is a sport, cheer athletes on!

Confidence

SNAPSHOT

My way weaves and sways and dips when my confidence is low.

DIGGING DEEPER

In two days I will toe the line at a race that I attempted one year ago. This race could easily turn into a yearly test of my fitness: weaknesses and strengths. So I am weary of the test and its results. 

Am I slipping backward? Is my age finally catching up with me? Did I not work hard enough, loving comfort?  Was all the work this year worth it?  The thoughts get tangled in my mind along with the emotions and fears.  Am I in denial? Or will I have a breakthrough?

This is test anxiety as a 39-year-old.

My son searched for the last location to place his Rummikub tile in order to win the game.  He thought it was hopeless.  On the precipice of him giving up, I blurted out, "You can win."  His dark horizon flashed with light. There was hope and he searched with confidence. He was going to search until he found the combination needed to take the win.  Nothing had changed at that moment but my declaration of possibility. He went from no confidence in winning to full confidence in winning.  I gave the vote of confidence because I saw the path to victory. 

What can confidence do in a person's life?

It can open up doors.

It can give renewed strength.

It can make the journey less painful.

As I ran with a training partner and friend last Thursday, I shared my need for confidence. I need someone, whom I believe, to say, "You can win." I need someone in my life that when I don't see any hope, they can declare an open path to victory.

I am thankful for the role I play in my husband's, children's, friends', and athletes' lives where I can instill confidence. Now it is my turn to hear those around me who are declaring my open path to victory. 

SOLUTION

Putting aside fear I embrace this opportunity to run without restraint and instead with hope and confidence. 

If you are looking for more confidence in your running, considering working with me as your coach.

The intersection of family and running

SNAPSHOT

When you have more than one love, creativity and flexibility will help you find a way to continue investing in your loves. 

DIGGING DEEPER

Map My Run author Ashley Lauretta interviewed me on the topic of running with your family.  And boy do I have experience in this dance.  As the kids are one by one reaching their teenage years, I am seeing the benefits of the strategies that I used. They all enjoy running and have a healthy relationship with the sport. 

One of my sons is in love with running and joins in with his running team at 6:15 AM on summer mornings!  Another son sees its value and adds in runs when training for his other sports. And oh how my heart melts when the middle two take off for their own running adventure together. 

My daughter will encourage me to get out and start my runs and even run alongside me for the first 3 miles.

Now my husband, his support is in listening to my nonstop talking about running and racing and coaching.  He may not take a step with me on the trails but he sure will have my eggs ready when I return from my Saturday morning run.

My philosophy has been to model and give them chances to participate but never to guilt trip or force them. My joy spreads.

Check out Lauretta's and a past Adirondack article for the how-tos of entwining your loves of family and running.

4 Tactics to Run as a Family on Map My Run website

Passing on the Joy of Running in the Adirondack Sports Magazine

SOLUTION

Model and have patience. They will come around.

Fueling Persistance

SNAPSHOT

Jealously, anger, and pride don't motivate me beyond the emotional moment. However, I still am a highly motivated person. It is an internal drive that persists on its own accord.  

DIGGING DEEPER

Yesterday, I considered writing a finish time and name on a sticky note and placing it on my bathroom mirror. I wanted to keep my focus on a certain goal to be better than a particular person's best race.  She doesn't know that I placed a target on her back.  And I am sure she does not care one little bit whether I will ever beat her PR. She probably doesn't even remember me at all.  But I have a grudge and wish I could show that I am just as valuable and accomplished. Moments later, I snapped back into reality and acknowledged that trying to fuel my motivation with jealousy wasn't going to last more than one workout, or perhaps not even a half of a workout.  Jealously just doesn't motivate me through a season.  Plus, all the bad feelings certainly don't build my character or make me happy.  You can safely assume I don't have any sticky notes on my bathroom mirror.

At a running party, an unnamed older male once made a comment about me looking pregnant (I WAS NOT PREGNANT, but just had eaten a big meal.) and that if I was not pregnant then how could I not be super skinny and still fast.  He showed up the next Monday to run with the local running group.  I, still offended, kept my mouth shut and let's say ran a bit faster than usual. And the group stuck with the faster pace and the unnamed man may have been quite sore the next day. My anger toward him could only last so long and I would have to forgive him so that it did not eat me up on the inside. I could have used that comment to become obsessed with training hard and turning into the runner body that he expected. However, my motivation for running would have stemmed from anger, not joy.  Who wants to run with someone that is angry and bitter?

"What are you training for?" I get this question posed to me over and over. Usually, after they hear of my last long run distance or when I add in a few miles after they finished running.  I respond with, "Nothing, just running."  I am not training for an accomplishment to announce to the world. Some people don't fall into the trap of pride, but it looms closely over my head.  I need to keep from boasting and my head swelling up with pride.  So I don't often articulate all my future wishes and declare all my victories. I know that there are so many many many runners better than me and that my victory is really just for me to enjoy. 

Alrighty then where in the world does my motivation come from?  I have been dwelling on this thought throughout the last month as I have hit some new highs in my recent training.  I think how did I accomplish that? How come I didn't give up and end the run early or even when planned?  How did I run for so long by myself for no race-specific reason? Why am I the only one out here on Lollipop Lane sprinting 160 meters every Tuesday? 

Explaining motivation is like the struggle to bottle up a child's excessive energy. It is abstract, individual, and ever-changing. All I can do is share some of the bubbles above my head as I have covered the miles throughout my town this spring/summer.  

"Just run for 10 minutes, I can always walk home if I hate the run."

"Run for 40 minutes then this run can be used as a restorative run for my body. Thirty minutes is only a recovery, but ten more minutes will get me into the restorative area."

"Perhaps I will find a new friend while out running. Might as well try."

"One-second faster. Can I run this next sprint just one second faster?"

"This conversation with my running friend is so interesting that I don't want to stop running and lose out on the friendship time."

"I have to keep up with her because I can't admit how hard it is to run this pace."

"Get as far from home as possible and then I get to run home without the using up motivation currency because I have to get home somehow and running will get me to a cold drink of water faster than walking."

"If I get too far away from home and I get too tired, I will just call my husband or son to come and pick me up in a car." I did have to get picked up last month because I couldn't make it home in time to leave for my son's soccer tournament.

"1:25:00 is way too close to 1:30:00, which is the Lydiard claimed boundary for a long run. I can always run 5 more minutes."

"If I have run for 12 miles, why not just go to 16 miles. It is like only running a 4-mile run, forgetting the past 12. And 16 will give me new longest run record for this year."

"I will be proud of myself when I am done. I can tell my kids how far or fast I ran today."

See my motivation has turned from outward circumstances to internal ways to positively challenge myself. I don't need to chase a race finish time or an opponent to become more fit or faster than last year.  I use knowledge and grit to take my body to the next level.  And if I don't race much this year or do race but the finish times don't reflect my fitness, it won't matter. Because I trained for myself and challenged myself and grew stronger in my body, mind, and heart. I am happy running: short, long, slow, or fast.

SOLUTION

Develop your running character to lead a rich running life.

"We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Bible Romans 5:3-4

Image Exposed

Disclaimer: This post has sat in my draft box for over a year.  I didn't have the courage to release it until now.  After witnessing well-known runners approach this topic, it is time we expose our stories too.  I applaud them and want to support the movement to open up the topic of running and body size. Their take on the issue is valuable.  Please check out their posts.

SNAPSHOT

My fight with my image.

DIGGING DEEPER

I remember this day, this race.  I fell apart. My mind, following my body, fell apart also. It was after a long training season where I had run all the correct training, hitting workout after workout. I had worked so hard in every running way to be a faster half marathoner.  However, the PR race didn't happen.  I still had a quick finish time but it did not match my faster training level.

At this final race of the training season, my body called my bluff and I suffered.  For the month after the race, I was barely able to run 3 miles at a time.  I had fallen off the cliff.  My friend, Joe, has always told me that, "If I tried to lose too much weight, I would lose what made me a good runner, my strength." 

Fast forward a few years...

It wasn't until I was scrolling through the old photos that I saw this picture of me in a new light. It is just crazy to me that every other time I saw this picture I didn't see how empty I looked.  How unhealthy I had become.  When this picture was taken I had stopped eating red meat and limited my calories below the amount needed to run up to 80 miles a week. Sleep at night had been put off and reduced to 6 hours.  None of these habits were what my body needed in order to recover from my training.

Take a closer look.

You may look at this picture and say, you don't look that skinny to be unhealthy.  Pause, who are you comparing me to? Are you comparing me to a different body type? Only compare me to me.

My body has a natural body weight where it functions correctly.  Once at a certain body fat percentage and on a reduced calorie consumption rate, I don't lose fat, I lose muscle, valuable muscle. That muscle is what powers me for miles through a race.

I have already ran this experiment several times in my life. Skinnier does not equal stronger. For every pound of weight you lose, 70 percent is fat, 30 percent is muscle. When I am not properly refueling my body or sleeping enough during training, my body gives strong signs that I am compromising my health. Read up on the Female Triad here and here and here.

It started years ago...

My college assistant coach, with good intentions, pinched and measured and plotted out my size then declared, "lose 10 pounds."  No education, no help, no better access to healthy food came with that prescription.  So I did what every logical college freshman would do, limited my calories to under 1,000 per day while training and competing. However, it didn't work for me. The weight scale didn't change. I had hit my own individual natural weight limit. I felt like a failure. I had to give up and try to hide that "extra" ten pounds.

So I have hidden those 10 pounds ever since. Afraid.

I often feel skinny enough when around the normal population.  However, when with competitive runners, I know I am the largest. I have to look at pictures to see what I really look like. I hide the ones that show an unflattering belly. Keeping the photos that got just the right angle, which has become harder after four c-sections.

Do you see what I see?

When I look at this picture I see a weak and frail runner, and not just because it was at the end of half marathon.  I see my body stripped of Shelly Strength.  A thin Shelly is not a stronger faster runner.   

This gets to the core of my self-image and desire to be skinny.  I have talked with friends that are "runner skinny" (super skinny) and they still seek to be even smaller.  They tell of the loss of energy and muscle and therefore no better race results.  It is an illusion that if you are skinny, you will be a fast runner or even more beautiful.  

It is true that the fewer pounds to move over a race distance, the less energy required. However, you need muscle to move over the ground. What will you do if you don't have muscle power at the end of the race when your opponent is blazing by you, is it really worth it?  

Is it really worth it to be constantly hungry and continually punishing yourself by not refueling? Do you love a finishing time or place more than the body that God gave you? Does your body truly deserve to be punished?

I don't want to be a deprived runner.  

I accept my strong body. I am thankful for my body that grew and gave birth to four incredible, make me cry with happiness, children. I stride forward to forge the road for runners that are strong mentally and physically. I am a competitive runner, one who competes to be better than I was last year.  I train and treat my body in a respectful way, honoring its strengths. 

It was 20 years ago that I joined a college team in which I ran and lived with runners that had eating disorders.

It has taken all of those 20 years to recover from the damage and to have a realistic view of beauty and strength as a runner. I declare my body as wonderfully made!

How do you punish your body?

Do you appreciate your strengths?

Do treat your body as valuable? 

SOLUTION

BE YOU!  Be the wonderfully made YOU! Like yourself.

The real Strong Shelly two years ago at the end of a half marathon.