Getting Dirty

About a year ago, I took care of my son while The Grump ran in the USMC Mud Run for the first time. I was carrying around about 35 pounds of extra weight (both baby weight and just-married weight) and panting just from walking around the spectators' area pushing a stroller. When The Grump finished, he was so excited, and pumped, and exhausted, that I -in my bloated, overheated delirium- made a decision.

I was going to run the Mud Run.

You see, I wanted to lose weight, but I'd lost weight in the not-so-healthy way before (by just forgetting to eat) and then I gained it all right back. I also didn't feel very healthy. I was always tired, and got dizzy spells. So I didn't want to set a weight goal, I wanted to set a fitness goal. The Mud Run was it. I decided that if I could finish the run, then no one could call me unfit or lazy. It's 5+ miles long with about 35 obstacles, you would HAVE to be fit to finish, right?

Well, my friends, I did it. I. DID. IT. 

I DID IT!

I did not wear my coach sunglasses the whole time. I promise. I just put them on after the race.

This thing was SERIOUSLY FUN. I didn't do too bad either, if I may say so myself. I struggled with a lot of the climbing obstacles because I'm not so great with the upper body strength, but I do feel like I kept up with the running. 

Shoes before.

Shoes after.

Our team finished the course in just over 2 hours, which is about 30 minutes faster than I thought we would finish. We came in just faster than middleth place out of 615 teams in the coed division, and we were 800-somethingth out of 1434 teams overall.

The Grump was one of my team members. He was so supportive and fantastic. I couldn't have asked for a better teammate.

So the big question now is, do I really feel fit? I reached my fitness goal, right? 

Well, yes and no. Yes, I do feel pretty much like Frau Badass when I compare my current self to myself from last year... I have to say, though, that I really struggled with some of those obstacles. Now, the Mud Run is a team race, so I had three awesome guys with me who helped me get past my rough spots. But I know that I in no way pulled my weight on the team. I know that I slowed them down over some of the obstacles, too, because I was timid (me and heights don't get along) or just couldn't do them on my own.

Also, outside of the Mud Run, I still can't do ten full push ups in a row. I can't do a single pull up, either. There is no way I could pass any military fit test.

So in conclusion, no one can call me "unfit" any more. I have accomplished things, dammit! I may not be the fastest, or the strongest, or the best. But I'm not the slowest, or the laziest, or the worst any more either. This run was not the culmination of my exercise journey that I had wanted it to be. It was, however, a stepping stone. 

I will Run again. I will be be better. I will be stronger. I will pull my weight. 

And I will do a damn pull up! 

Off Like a Herd of Turtles!

I went running tonight again... Finally.

I have been running pretty regularly for several months now, with the longest break being a week when I was in Houston on vacation. As I was making progress, I really started to love it. About a month ago, though, I started having some foot pain and my knees started to hurt. At the time, I was about 2-3 weeks into a training program that was supposed to increase my distance from 3 miles to about 5.5 miles in 6 weeks. I had just started running 4 miles when I started having this pain, so I decided to take a bit of a break until my foot was feeling better.

This break was supposed to last for 1 or 2 days... But after my foot stopped hurting, I got sick, then I had some issues with my ID so I couldn't get on base to run (our roads are horrible, so I run on a track on base). Every day that I skipped just made it harder to start again.

My one or two day break turned into... 2 weeks.

As mentioned here, I had built up my running in my head to this horrible, involved ordeal and I just didn't want to do it any more. Maybe it was because of how steep my running plan was, or how strict the plan was, or just how much I had started hurting. But in my head, running just plain sucked.

Logically, though, I knew it didn't. For months, I have run multiple times a week and LOVED my runs! I loved the progress I made, I loved how I actually started to feel like a "Runner", everything! I looked forward to getting up and racing myself, and to having that time where I'm doing something just. for. myself.

So I know there are good things about running. And I knew, during this whole break, that if I just went out and did it, it wouldn't be so bad. I would get it out of the way, get over my roadblock, and get back in the groove. I would finish my run, red-faced and grinning, and smack myself on the forehead for waiting so long.

Well, I FINALLY got my a$$ out and ran today.

Aaaaaaaaaand....

Meh.
I started hurting within the first minute. Once one ache stopped, another would start. My knee, my side, my other knee, my shoulder... On and on until they finally stopped, or I just got better at ignoring them. I reached my 3 miles, but it wasn't any fun. I was bored the whole time as well. Maybe it's because I'm still missing my superfantastic running partner. Then, by the time I got home, both of my knees were swollen and my foot had started hurting again... After ONE run! (I think it's due to inflammation, and I'm researching how to fix it). The run wasn't horrible, but it wasn't easy, and it wasn't good, either.

I just don't know about running any more. I think the bloom is off that rose. I need to either find the love again, or find something else to love. Because, after only two weeks of laziness, The Grump has already mentioned that I've started looking chubby. 

And no, I won't let that go. -_-

The plan now is no running until I finish the Mud Run on Saturday. Then, I think I'm just going to run 2-3 times a week. I also think I'm going to switch it up. Instead of distance, I think I may work on shorter sprint sessions. My favorite part of my run has always been that last minute, or 200 meters where I give it everything I have. Maybe sprinting sessions wont allow me the time to get bored. PLUS, I'm a pretty slow runner; I know I need to work on my speed. 

Seems like a win-win there.

BONUS: This is how Smasher looked when I went to wake him up yesterday. These bunny suits are killing me.

I think this is a pretty good representation of my laziness level the past two weeks.