Meskawki Health Clinic Turkey Trot

Well, I have now run a turkey trot in three states: Arizona, my home; Washington, my in-laws, previous home; and now Iowa where my in-laws currently live. I wasn't planning to run a Turkey Trot, but well, I'm a runner and I did a Google search just to see if there was one, and there was! I asked my husband if he would do it, too, and being the runner that he now is, he agreed!

Weather: Iowa is well, cold. The day before the race, it was in the 30's, with gusty winds up to 49 miles per hour (or something like that. I did not run or walk outside. Rather, my kind mother-in-law bought me a guest pass to the Meskawki Recreation Center, where I ran a mile and walked 2.25. (It was a cross-training day on my plan, and having done some Nourish Move Love strength workouts before I left, I figured this was good enough.)

Thursday morning, the low was 21, and the high was 33. The winds were supposed to die down, and I prayed they would. I got up at 5 am thinking I would go run two miles before we left at 7:00 am, but with sunrise not until 7:13 am, and country roads, that did not really work out. So I did my physical therapy exercises and tootled around until 6:30 am when I woke up my husband. I drank coffee with RNWY and scarfed down a banana and decided I had time to run, and went for it. With a tank top, running shirt, thick fleece, headband and two pairs of gloves, I felt mostly warm, well, except for my hands. They were cold already. I wondered how that would go.

The Race: This was a somewhat unofficial turkey trot, starting from the rec center, going down to a stop sign, and running back. Entrance was two cans of food per person, and they gave out hooded sweatshirts and track pants while supplies lasted. Talk about swag! There was also a raffle, with tickets given for every can of food brought.

My husband and I chilled and ate our fruit leathers and walked towards the doors around 7:45 AM. (I also used the bathroom twice and took a few sips of water from the water fountain.) Around 8 AM, we walked out front and they gave us a brief course preview and then told us to go. One man (whom the rec center director had identified as "faster") took off from behind and quickly went to the front. A man and a woman (who had driven an hour to this race because they like it so much) were out in front of me. I figured I could not catch them, but then.

Mile 1: My plan was to run half-marathon pace, which once again was 7:40/mile. I wasn't sure how that would go with the cold and everything, but I figured I would try. I looked down at one point and was in 7:30/mile range. Sweet, I thought. Well, that did not last long. While I felt like I was cruising, I steadily watched my pace falling. I did pass the man and the lady in front of me. I heard them talking about her sticking with him, but then I watched him surge ahead of me. "Did you drop her?" I asked.

"Yeah." He said. "She wanted to run alone." Or something like that.

Mile 1 was 7:46/mile--not quite where I wanted it, but good enough.

Mile 2: I heard footsteps behind me for most of the last mile. Remembering the first place female trophy I had seen when we signed in, I told myself to keep going. At the same time, my legs were cold, and I could not go much faster. Eventually the footsteps came around me. It was a young boy, and he was racing! We turned around at the stop sign and then started back up the hill. I had noticed we had run down a hill and was not sure how that would be going back up. The answer was slower. I hit 7:54/mile here.

Mile 3: I was once again able to get sentences out, but I felt like I did not/could not go much faster. (Thankfully I did not feel like I had hit the wall, rather that I was cruising and could not feel my legs through the cold to go much faster.) While I could not remember exactly where we would turn, I knew that we would come out on the flat eventually, and we did. I was at 8:11/mile here.

Mile 3.1-3.33 I watched the guy in front of me turn. (The first guy was long gone!). Not sensing anyone else around me and not thinking I could pass anyone, I just held on. I tried to sprint to the end, and I guess I did, clocking a 7:31/mile for the last bit.

Results: I came in third overall (behind the first two men) and first for the women. I thought that would mean a trophy, but I was not sure. I hung out for a while and congratulated the men in front of me, and the kid who came in not much behind me. (That kid has a future!) I stood outside for a while, went inside to grab a water bottle, and then came in to cheer my husband to the finish line. The second two ladies came in and the press and rec center director took pictures. 

I went inside and got more water. Then they gave me a trophy, and told me to get a pie. Sweet! This is the first time I have won a pie. (I chose blueberry since I heard from my mother-in-law that someone else was bringing an apple pie.) We grabbed a few snacks and headed out.

After the race: I ate another fruit strip and drank a second 10 ounce water bottle in the car on the way back to the house. I needed to run five more miles to hit my total for the day. It took me a bit to get out of the house, but I got on the fitness trail and was enjoying my run. It was nice in the sun; cold when the wind blew.

Around 3.7 miles, I somehow slipped or tripped. I went down hard, but wearing two pairs of paints, two pairs of gloves, and a thick jacket, I thought I was okay. I picked myself up and kept running, When I got home, I noticed I had ripped the hand of one glove, and bled through my two layers of pants on one knee. I showered and found a lot of bruises, but overall was okay. That was a praise. Having read in my devotional that morning about God's goodness, I tried to name the good things from the day and not let my fall sour things. Thank the Lord, he helped me.

Concluding Thoughts: I guess we will call this day a cruise and a bruise. While I did not hit my prescribed 7:40 pace, I did get to run. I got a new sweatsuit, a trophy, and a pie. While my bruises hurt, they will heal. So for a Thanksgiving Day run and gun, I think I got a pretty good deal!

Foster 5K (Year 2)

It was year two for the Foster 5K! After all the other races I have done, I probably would not have signed up for this one, except that it supports a cause near and dear to my heart. I tried to recruit some others to join me, but only my husband (of course, the most important one!) did.

Buildup to this race was a bit rough. I caught some kind of bug and had a high fever the Sunday/Monday before. The week of the race, I did my long run Thursday, but got some terrible heal chafing and bleeding due to running in the rain. I still had six easy miles to run on Friday. I wanted to give the 5K on Saturday a go at racing, though.

I rearranged my run schedule and my workout of the day was 2 miles, 5 miles at half marathon pace, and a 1 mile cooldown. To make this work for the race, I ran a three mile warmup, the 5K, and then another two miles. It worked.

I ate my normal longer run breakfast prior to the race (caffeinated coffee with RNWY and a bagel). I also did my PT. Fifteen minutes prior to the race start, I took a caffeinated salted caramel GU. (I have mostly moved away from GU due to the price increase, but I had this gel leftover.) Weather was partly cloudy and the temperatures were in the mid fifties.

Goals:

For my training plan, I needed to hit a half marathon pace of 7:40/mile. Surely I could do that, so that became my A goal. B goals was to PR, which would happen if I hit my A goal. C goal was to PR my Pat's Run pace of 7:27/mile.

The Race:

Mile 1 felt hard. I don't really like the up and down around the lake, and I told myself to make it to the canal out-and-back. Several men passed me here. I was not feeling great and I only looked at my watch at the mile mark. My watch said 7:36/mile.

(Photo courtesy of Startline Racing)

Mile 2 was not bad, but when I looked down, I was over 7:40 a mile. I had felt thirsty, so slowed and grabbed a water cup at one aid station. I was the only woman out front (behind about six men), so I felt confident that I would place, even if not running a fast race. I was 7:41/mile for this mile.

Mile 3 I just settled in. I didn't look at my watch much. My legs weren't burning. I got out close to shouting a few sentences to cheer on other races, which told me I could have pushed harder, but I just didn't want to. (Was I dehydrated, underfueled, tired, or just not recovered from my 15 miles on Thursday? I don't know.) I was 7:41/mile here.

The course looked like it would be short, and it was, but I threw my hands up at the finish line anyway. At 3.05, I finished in 23:18 according to the clock. I breathed a little and then sprinted another 0.05 mile to get to 3:10, for my time of 23:48 (what I am counting for PR). 

Results:

When I finished the race, I was 7/7. After I grabbed some water, changed shoes, and went to find my husband (who ran his first full 5K since returning to running and placed 3rd in his age group!), my place had fallen to 8th and 2nd in my age group. I thought about contesting, but my husband reminded me that chip time matters, and that a woman behind me must have arrived late and run really fast. Maybe, but she did not make it to the award ceremony, so I will never know. I was not thrilled with my results, and I did not want to seem stuck up, so I just let it go.

(Photo courtesy of Startline Racing)

Final Thoughts:

Am I proud of this race? Yes, and no. I did it. I got it done. I was not at my finest. I did not feel great, but I am thankful I could do it. (I am most thankful that my husband got to run with me!) The more I run, the more less than great races I know I will have. That is part of the process, and part of what it means to stick with it. The 5K is not really my race anyway, at least right now.....

Eats and Empties (Week 47)

The Eats:

Cinnamon cocoa sourdough discard bagels (A recipe I cobbled together from various sources, and may share on this blog if I can replicate my results)

Healthy sweet bites (Fat Secret)

Hearty meatball soup (Budget Bytes) with homemade meatballs (Budget Bytes)

Oatmeal cinnamon muffin bread (The Fed Up Foodie)

Pumpkin banana muffins (Oh Snap Macros) (Frozen for the future)

Pumpkin muffins (Fat Secret)

The Empties:

Slivered almonds
Jar of applesauce
Carton of beef broth
Frozen beef broth brown gravy (Creme de la Crumb)
Frozen best gravy (Brand New Vegan)
Bag of brown sugar
Five pound bag of carrots
Celery
Dozen eggs
Trader Joe's fruit leather buttons
Frozen gravy (Macrostax)
Red onion (some frozen for future use)
Split peas
Two cans of pumpkin
Head of romaine lettuce
Jar of Trader Joe's pumpkin pie spice
Pound of ground turkey
Pound of Italian ground turkey
Wild rice
Twenty-eight ounce can of diced tomatoes
Twenty-eight ounce can of tomato sauce

What went to waste:   

Nothing that I know of, but the fridge smells weird, so I fear there is something rotting somewhere....

Mindset and Running

Running has taught me a lot about life. One of those life lessons is that mindset matters, a lot more than I think! Although I do not believe that mindset matters to the extent that a person can "manifest" things into being, I do believe that mindset helps a person achieve full potential.

I think I read about the power of mindset in running first from Elizabeth Clor. She wrote a book about how her mindset held her back from qualifying for the Boston marathon, and how work with a sports psychologist helped her shift away from a cycle of failure (Clor, 2016). Clor has now run the Boston marathon at least four times (Clor, n.d.). Steph Bruce has a GRIT motto, which she uses to encourage herself to dig in deep physically, as well as mentally (Bruce, 2018). I never really thought about mindset and running until I wanted to get faster.

I practiced the GRIT mindset and dug in before I went further into mindset. I did that first in my third 10k, digging in for the second part of my 10K when I found things getting hard. I ended up with a personal record [PR]! I practiced mindset more than physical moxie in my Thanksgiving Turkey trot. I was not really in shape, but wanted to try hard...and I PR'ed again. Repeat for the marathon and my most recent half-marathon when I am pretty sure I PR'ed by giving it my all in that last tenth of a mile. Apparently this is a thing, as Olympian Aliphine Tuliamuk PR'ed at the New York Marathon after not much training, but going in with an attitude that she was going to give it her all. Mental toughness is a big part of running (van Sprundel, 2022). Running is a mind and body sport.

Running well requires presence in the current moment. Be tough in the moment, and I might be able to tough out a good race, or finish a less-than-good race. Take on the whole race, and I might not try my hardest. I might be done, and not even finish. I heard somewhere the phrase, "Why not today?" That is a good phrase for running in the moment, and living in the moment, too. Why not live fully, give my best now, today? I am not guaranteed tomorrow.

Thinking well is not only beneficial for running, but in line with Scripture. Paul encourages believes to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (New International Version, 2011, 2 Cor 10:5). In the famous Philippians 4 passage, Paul encourages readers to think about "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable...excellent [and] praiseworthy" (v. 8). Having the right mindset requires taking captive anxious and fearful thoughts (Brooks, n.d.). It requires putting ego to death and thinking truth, about potential, but not in a prideful way. It seems having the right mindset is a discipline that takes practice.

I don't have mindset all figured out, but I am realizing that it matters a lot more than I thought, in running, and in life. Maybe it is a way my mind is growing wiser, even as my body ages. Maybe the former makes up for the latter? I don't know. Whatever the case, I hope with the Spirit's help, that I continue to improve my ability to practice a productive mindset so that I may do all things to my best, and to God's honor and glory.

References:

Brooks, A. (n.d.). Shut down the negative voice on your next run. Run to the Finish. https://www.runtothefinish.com/overcome-negative-thoughts-while-running/

Bruce, S. (2018, October 5). G-R-I-T. Steph Bruce. https://www.stephbruce.com/blog/2018/10/1/g-r-i-t

Clor, E. (n.d.) Race history. Racing Stripes. https://www.elizabethclor.com/p/marathons.html

Clor, E. (2016). Boston bound: A 7-Year Journey to Overcome Mental Barriers and Qualify for the Boston Marathon. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform

Feller, A. (Host). (2023, April 20). Live at the Boston Marathon with Sara Hall, Aliphine Tuliamuk, & Sara Vaughn. (No. 632). [Audio Podcast]. In Ali on the Run. https://aliontherunblog.com/2023/04/20/632-boston-marathon-live/

New International Version. (2011). BibleGateway.com. http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/

van Sprundel, M. (2022, April 26). Running and the science of mental toughness. The MIT Press Reader. https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/running-and-the-science-of-mental-toughness/

Eats and Empties (Week 46)

The Eats:

Butterscotch Pie (Sally's Baking Addiction)

Healthy pumpkin banana muffins (Mary's Whole Life)

Homemade healing chicken soup (Mary's Whole Life)

Homemade salted caramel (Sallys' Baking Addiction)

Instant Pot beef and cheddar ranch potatoes (365 Days of Slow Cooking)

Wild rice and mushroom soup (Meal Prep in an Instant)

The Empties:

Three pounds of baby bella mushrooms
Head of butter lettuce
Five pound bag of carrots
Three boxes of chicken broth
Carton of cocoa powder
Two pound bag of frozen broccoli
Tw0 boxes of chicken broth
Frozen chicken broth
Frozen easy buttermilk cornbread (Cafe Delites)
Dozen eggs
Favorite Day pumpkin spice trail mix
Old garlic
Fresh ginger
Container of Greek yogurt
Pound of hamburger
Carton of heavy whipping cream
Jar of mayonnaise
Instant oats
Five pound bag of potatoes
Rotini pasta
A pound of split peas
Airplane pretzels
Can of pumpkin
Head of romaine lettuce
Unsalted peanuts
Rotini pasta
Zucchini

What went to waste:   

Nothing that I know of this week!

The Night Run 5K

How it started:

Versus how it's going: 

One of the first/last things my (now) husband and I did as friends was the 2018 Butterfly Run. The race was at best, awkward. He said he just wanted to be friends, and I was trying to honor that, but he kept showing up at all the things I wanted to do. I wanted to run this race, but then he said he wanted to try a 5K, so he signed up. I wasn't against him coming, but I was trying to create distance between us, because I liked him as more than a friend, but was trying to honor his wishes. Add to this race the awkwardness of my Oklahoma best friend being in town and wanting to meet this guy who wasn't my boyfriend.

The 2018 race started out hot. He kept up with me for about a mile, and then I sped up to drop him. I could tell he was struggling, and well, I wanted to run my race. Even though I took off, he still managed to place in his age group. I guess it was a small race.

A lot of my photos from that race had my husband in them, but I didn't post them. We had a long chat about that. I told him that I didn't want people making assumptions (which they were already doing), and I was not going to feed the fire. I told him that I valued his friendship, and was trying to honor that privately rather than publicly.

That race and conversation led to a weekend hike and a conversation about where we wanted our relationship to go. As of November 10, 2018, we were dating. Christmas Eve 2018, I told him I loved him. We got engaged March 10, 2019 and married June 10. The rest is history.

--

I always try to do something a little extra special for our dating anniversary. My husband took up running during 75 Soft, and though he was not quite up to 5K in distance, I thought he was close. We both like sunsets, so when I found a sunset run the weekend of our date-i-versary, I asked my husband if he was interested. Given that it was the same weekend as the Scottsdale Canal Convergence, I thought we could run, grab dinner, and then go to the outdoor art show.

Since the race was small, bib pickup was the day of the race. That wasn't great, as we had to walk from the parking garage to the park, and then back to put away our shirts. While it was not a long walk, I wondered how it would affect me, as I had done a 12 mile training run with speed work in the morning. I seemed okay.

I used the outhouse at about 5 PM. At about 5:15 pm, we both ate a fruit strip. I was not planning to race, but I also wanted to fuel well since I had already run so much. The raspberry lemonade was tart, but I got it down.

We had decided ahead of time to go out at an 11:00/mile pace. While there were not a lot of people, we had to dodge a few, and then settled in. We only had to cross one main road, and they had that blocked off, so it was an easy course along the canal path overall. My husband's PR distance was 1.5 miles from an event we did in September. My goal was to help him PR that. We did, getting to 2.1 miles before he cramped. (This has been an ongoing issue that we have not quite figured out.) We walked, breathed, and stretched for 0.1 mile and then kept at it. I was cheering him on, and he said he wanted to quit about 3 miles, but on sheer determination, he finished, in 35:02.1. He was pretty proud that his bib number was 54, and he finished in 54th place. (Somehow my time was 35:01.2, even though I am pretty sure we came over the line together.) We knew we hadn't placed, so we grabbed some water, took a tunnel medal picture and headed for dinner.

As usual after a race, we did burgers. Shake Shack this time! We carried the meal over to Canal Convergence and I inhaled it. My husband was surprised when I finished before him, as that is not usually the case. I guess I was hungry?

We walked around and saw a few exhibits, and then lined up to watch the showtime fire show, which is the highlight of the night. We squeezed in a photo booth visit and then headed home.

Overall, it was a great experience. Running is for health, but also for community. It is to do hard things, but also to have fun. It is to chase PRs, but also to chase love, of each other, and of the sport. The night run was an example of this, and I hope for the chance to run more with my husband soon!

Real Life Marriage: Trying to Balance It All

I have been trying for a long time to figure out how to balance it all: his needs, my needs, our needs as a couple, our marriage. For the first part of our marriage, I leaned into trying to serve my husband and be everything to him. That kind of backfired, as I found myself basing my self-worth on whether or not I pleased my husband, dangerous for him, and for me. 

I experienced a strong recoil reaction and started to be more of a loner in our marriage. I was not trying to be selfish, per se, but rather trying to find myself as a married woman. I am sure I was selfish on many occasions in this pursuit.

It is really hard to find balance in marriage, to value my husband, to value myself, and to value us. As Jennie Lusko writes in her devotional with her husband, The Marriage Devotional, this balance "is not about disregarding your own thoughts, hopes, and dreams. It is elevating the person in your life to honor them, think well of them, and life them up. It's not diminishing you or tearing both them and yourself down....It's being able to life up someone else without pouring contempt on yourself or thinking of yourself as less-than" (p. 311). Tricky.

I don't think we balance it all well a lot of the time, most of the time, but by God's grace, sometimes we get it right. I think our fall trip to Utah was one of those times. We spent time together. We spent time apart. We both chased some of our goals. I came away feeling full, of love for my husband, love for God, and appreciation for my life. 

Will these times happen often? Maybe. I certainly pray for more of them. In the meantime, I am appreciating this one, treasuring it in my heart, and allowing God to remind me that all things, even seemingly impossible things, are possible in and through Him. To Him be the glory, amen!

Reference:

Lusko, L., & Lusko, J. (2022). The marriage devotional: 52 days to strengthen the soul of your marriage. W Publishing Group.