The Run that Changed me Forever

Since my last post was about the beginning of my running addiction, I thought I would fill in “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey says.  Back in February 2010, after the first half-marathon that I ran with the SPAR Stars, I became extremely sick.  My stomach hurt constantly.  I thought it was something to do with running, so I quit running.  I gradually recuperated from that run, but several months later I still had chronic stomach pain.  Oh well, I guess I can live with that, after all I have a sticker on my car that says 13.1!!!! That rocks!  What I wouldn’t do for a sticker.

By the end of 2011, I was itching to run again. So I started running…again.  If you have ever began a training program to run, you might remember starting.  I was starting over and it was a complete re-start in every sense of the word.  I had no flexibility, zero strength, and my endurance – ha!  I started slow, just a mile here and there, trying to build up to a 5K.  The more I ran, the sicker I got.  What!?!? How can running make me SICKER!  So I read blogs, articles, journals, everything related to diet, running, & stomach pain. In talking with my husband one day, he suggested cutting out bread – the carbs weren’t good for the extra weight around the middle anyway and it jived with what I read.  So I tried it. Cold turkey.  No bread for a week. No bread or flour-based products.  That includes pasta, cookies, pizza crust, pies, cake, waffles, etc… All I can say is: My poor family that had to tolerate this.

And I ran – and felt…good. Wow, really? The stomach pain that I had been “treating” with antacids, heartburn meds, tums, and pepto was subsiding.  It felt like a new life.  

 I resisted the urge to eat any wheat or gluten-based product for a month.  Just to make sure.  Yep! That was the culprit.  Because of the STRICT adherence to a gluten-free diet, I can run without fear of the repercussions (that constant punched-in-the-gut feeling.)  Bye bye antacid med; so long Pepto; see ya later Tums.  Those have been relegated to the back shelf of the medicine cabinet, because…I just don’t need them. 

I have run lots of 5Ks.  In January – February 2013, I ran 3 half marathons in five weeks.  Not bad for me.  After all its My Race…My Pace.

 

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Running around

Several years ago I considered myself a non-runner. Nope, running was not for me. Sure, I could make a mad dash in a downpour from my car to the front door of the grocery store, but I was adamant that running was NOT for me. I even said it. Out loud. Leave me to my yoga and Pilates. If I want to sweat (or glisten) at the gym, I’ll do a step aerobics class. Heck, I might even try spin. Even that new Zumba thing. Nope, not gonna run.
However, that was then, this is now.
Now – I am a runner. How did this transformation take place? Well, for me, the process was quite interesting and mundane, all at the same time. I was a stay-at-home mom, thanks to a particularly devastating hurricane (more on that later). I had joined our local gym and was looking for something interesting to do with my spare time once the kids started school. When my daughter started her four-year-old pre-K class, I was free four days a week, so I volunteered to guide yoga and Pilates. I also took a few of the aforementioned step aerobics class. That’s where I met “the group.” Several enthusiastic ladies were training for the Contraband 5-miler. Their camaraderie was infectious. They made running look both exhausting and fun at the same time. Hmmm…how did they do that? I tried one 1.5 mile run with them to see what it was all about. I ran/walked it, panting and gasping, and was the last to finish. Not so much fun, I thought, as I glanced at their elated, refreshed, addicted-to-the-endorphins faces. Our fearless leader convinced me to try it again, just once more.

Fast-forward six months…I joined “the group” (known as the Spar Stars) for our first half marathon, the Run for Jimbo. I was a runner.

That was four years ago. This past January, I completed my first full marathon. I AM a runner. I am addicted to the endorphins created post-run. I have more running shoes than flip-flops. I have lots of pictures of my exhausted but ecstatic face after a run. I have a group that supports me and I them.

I am a runner.

It is better to…

It is better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt. – Mark Twain

This piece of advice was heard repeatedly throughout my house recently by none other than my eleven year-old son.  It was really fun to listen to him belt it out, quite melodiously, I might add.  No he was not trying to tell anyone that they were foolish, he was practicing for an elementary Honor Chorus performance.  But…I was thinking: “What a great piece of advice.”  In this day of instant access to the minutia of everyone’s minds, I will try being a good listener rather than a mediocre talker,  Less is more right?  Less babble, more meaning; less quantity, more quality.

Look before you leap – Think before you speak.  Hmmm…. I’m going to reflect on that.