Twin Cities 5K

I should probably credit my workplace's participation in the Corporate Challenge for the Twin Cities 5K for motivating me to keep running.  I already taken the first step towards becoming a runner again by blocking time off on my calendar and actually going out for a run.  I think I ran for ten minutes that first run since I had had a baby and walked the rest.  A few torturous runs later I had built myself up to running for 20 minutes - with a break at the halfway point.  So when a co-worker e-mailed the office to recruit everyone for our company team for the Twin Cities 5K, I signed up that day.  Even when I went for weeks without running because it was too hot to run mid-day during the scorching summer we had, being signed up for the race motivated me to pick up my training where I left off when the weather cooled down.  And even when I felt frustrated that I never managed to run more than twice a week, I was out again the following week.

Although it was 80+ degrees earlier this week, when I woke up this morning, the sun struggled to peak out of the clouds on a 38-degree morning.  That's a Minnesota fall for you.  I dug through the duffle bag of winter sports clothing I store in the back of a closet and pulled out long underwear, gloves, a headband and a pair of running tights I prayed would still fit.  (Thank goodness they stretch.)  Chris stayed home with the kids and I jumped in the car and made my way to the Capitol grounds, where the race would start and then worked its way uphill towards Summit Avenue.

Amidst the two thousand people at the starting line, I stood with my colleagues and teammates and waited for the starting gun to go off.  Our team consisted of marathon runners, those who were getting back into running after years-long hiatuses and those who in their 40s and 50s were running their first race.  I quickly lost them when the race started as many of them sped ahead with the fast runners.  I, on the other hand, have taken the motto of my dad's old running club, the Tortuga Golden Striders, to heart.  Start slowly, then ease off.   

The incline up Summit Avenue was steeper and longer than I remembered from running the race five years ago, but the thrill of competition was still the same.  I paced myself well and was tired when I finished, but felt great.  That was the runner's high I was looking for!  I finished in 30:38, which was about a minute and a half or two minutes slower than the last time I ran the Twin Cities 5K, but still a minute faster than the race for state employees I participated in two weeks ago.   

The race hasn't been over for more than a few hours and I'm already wondering how I'm going to stay motivated to keep active during the colder months.  It might be time to wax my cross country skis, sign up for the City of Lakes Loppet and end another sport's racing hiatus. 

To Feel a Runner's High Again

As the end of 2011 wound down, my brother asked the readers of his blog about running what their running goals for 2012 were.  My answer was simple. 

My goal is to once again experience a runner's high. After knee problems, two kids, two c-sections and no time for me as a stay-at-home mom, just getting back into running is my simple goal.

It is a simple goal, but it's been challenging to accomplish.  With weekends devoted to the kids and everything I failed to accomplish during the week, I have yet to find time (or motivation) to run over the weekend.  Since I developed a consistent routine of going to the gym over lunch during the work week, I tried replacing some gym workouts with jogs along the river.  It continues to be difficult to find time right before lunch and then hope it doesn't rain, I don't get too hungry to run or I'm not scheduled for a last-minute meeting. 

I still find it difficult to find the motivation to run when I feel the pressure of deadlines at work and the weather isn't great and my lunch sitting on my desk staring at me. I don't know what "getting back into running" is supposed to look like and I don't know when I can say I've reached my goal. After how many weeks or months of consistent running can I say again that I'm a runner?  Either way, I've started to notice that I'm craving my mid-day runs.  I actually have energy to burn.  I'm even starting to feel that runner's high again. I'm not totally there yet, but I'm getting there.

Renewed Gym Membership

At 22 pounds, Oliver is like one large, wiggly free weight and if I have any muscle tone left in my body after giving birth to him, it's the result of the heavy-lifting I do on a daily basis - the hoisting of baby onto the changing table and in and out of a car seat, balancing baby on my hip while trying to do a myriad of household tasks one-handed, or throwing baby up in the air to elicit smiles. I was clearly not out of shape, but 15 months after Oliver was born, I hardly felt in shape. So a week before Christmas, I finally caved and rejoined the gym.

I had been a near-daily runner, with a smattering of other sports thrown into my weekly activity mix, mainly soccer and cross-country skiing, depending upon the season, when Chris and I joined the gym together. I thought I would be intimidated by the body builders, but after some pointers from Chris and a trainer, I found my own routine in the weight room and discovered I liked weight-lifting.

Even when I became pregnant, I kept going to the gym through the end of my second trimester. But then summer was well underway and I preferred being outdoors, and by that point, well, I was big and uncomfortable. We were moving anyway. So I let my membership lapse.

Like any other new mom, I wanted to get back in shape. Through good diet and a commitment to physical fitness, I had worked my way to the best shape of my life before getting pregnant - without a gym membership - and I was determined to do it all over again. I would work with what I had or could manage, which really was just a few free weights, a mat and a stroller to take the baby with me walking. Besides everyone was telling me that chasing after your kid is forced exercise in itself.

So why did I end up joining the gym (and declining the childcare option)? I had been fairly active with Oliver by putting lots of miles on the stroller, but frankly, exercising with a baby is pretty limiting (especially during winter in Minnesota). And it was unsatisfying. You can't get a runner's high from walking. We were given a hand-me-down jogging stroller, but I have yet to use it, (and neither has Chris, for the record) because running while pushing a stroller sounds 100% unappealing. Running was a stress-reliever for me and getting a baby ready, getting a stroller out, hoping the baby doesn't get hungry or soil his diaper en route, stopping to check on baby and pushing all that extra weight and having your gait thrown off by running with one hand attached to a bar was not my idea of a stress-reliever. Nor were classes like stroller strides or baby yoga, or any other gimmicky "exercise" class designed to do with your baby. I wanted uninterrupted, kid-free exercise I could do at my pace.

I had been reluctant to rejoin the gym because a membership felt like an extravagance when there were other ways to get exercise (even if I discovered that many of my exercise plans for post-pregnancy were impractical) and I didn't think I would get my money's worth given how seldom I would be able to go. But while most of what I do at the gym could be replicated elsewhere, I finally accepted that getting myself out of the house for some solo uninterrupted exercise time was good for both my physical and mental health.

Most days my only form of cardiovascular exercise is still walking with the stroller (and more often at the mall than I ever thought would happen) and I'm thankful for that time to be active. I still think it's important to get outside and "exercise" with your kids, because it's modeling a healthy, active lifestyle and in most cases, gets them outdoors. But I've learned that your exercise routine isn't all about you - it's got to be geared towards your kids. They'll only want to spend so long strapped in a stroller or pulk sled before they want to do something else - eat, run around, go inside where it's warm. So even though I consider it a good week if I have time to go to the gym twice, those are two nights I come back home feeling a tad bit more fit and remarkably more relaxed.