Happy 6-month Runniversary to me!

January 1st marks not only the start of a new year, but also the 6 month anniversary of when I became a runner. I don't know the official date that I decided I really wanted to get into running, but July 1st was the date I signed up for the Color Run, which set in motion a string of new desires and goals culminating in the decision to train for a half marathon.

I am posting this a little early because I know that anything posted around January 1 would inevitably be lost in all of the hullabaloo of New Year's. Plus, I was just so excited to post it :-)

So, what's happened in the 6 months since I decided to become a runner?

1. Ran three 5ks since October, and saw my time increase from 29:38 to 27:22*
2. Went from being able to run less than a mile to being able to run 7 miles
3. Set my sights on a half-marathon by Spring of 2014 and a full marathon by Fall 2014

 *my last race of the year is on December 31, and this the goal time I am trying to achieve! It is exactly one minute better than my most recent time of 28:22.

I never imagined in June of this year that all of this would happen by the end of the year!



Of course, there is more to reflection than just the peaks and triumphs. Here's what I didn't do so well at and will need to work on in the next 6 months:

1. I am really disappointed in the lack of consistency in my training.
   It's something I have been able to get away with since my only races thus far have been 5ks and my half-marathon is so far away. But even with these smaller races, which all went very well, I can't help wonder how much better I could have done if I had stuck to my training schedule a little better. There were many skipped days, and a couple weeks where I skipped running altogether (bad Hanna, bad!). I try not to be too hard on myself, because I'm a new runner and I'm still learning, and it takes some time to adjust to a big lifestyle change. But with big things looming on the horizon, this lack of consistency is not acceptable anymore. In 6 months I would like to be able to look back and see that I quickly got my act together, started training more consistently, and only skipped training when I absolutely needed to. My New Year's Running Resolution is to switch to morning running, so hopefully this will be a tremendous help since little will interfere in the mornings.

With all that said, I think the best is yet to come! Here's what I what I hope to be able to say on my one year runniversary (knock on wood!):

1. Completed two 10K's, and increased my time on the second one  
2. Completed a 15K
3. Successfully completed my first half marathon on May 3, 2014!
4. ...and then, for fun, completed another one on June 14, 2014
5. Went from being able to run 7 miles to being able to run 13.1 miles
6. Successfully made the switch from evening runner to morning runner
7. Stuck to a training schedule that has me running at least 4 times a week

Here's to a great year of running through 2014. Runner friends, do you know what your "runniversary" is? :-)

And the marathon I'm running is.....

So, after much internal deliberation, I have decided which marathon I'm going to run in October 2014.

A couple weeks ago I posted about the three marathons I was considering: Denver, Chicago, and Lakefront (Milwaukee). I eliminated Denver pretty quickly. Then, I found out about the Twin Cities marathon in October (October 5), so my choice became Twin Cities, Chicago, and Lakefront.

I was really leaning towards Chicago until I found out about the high price (it's $100 more than Lakefront), and the insane demand (sold out in a matter of HOURS last year!). Around this same time I became really excited about the Twin Cities marathon. A little bit farther of a drive, but it's size (roughly 23,000) seemed to strike a perfect balance between the tiny Lakefront crowd (3,100) and the massive Chicago crowd (45,000). The online reviews for the TCM were glowing, too (although, to be fair, almost every marathon I've read reviews for mostly has very positive reviews). TCM would fulfill my desire to branch out and run somewhere new, and I would also have great crowd support and get to run in a big city.

So, my choice came down to Twin Cities Marathon, or Lakefront Marathon.

After a lot of thought, I have made my decision that on October 5, 2014 I am going to run the Lakefront Marathon here in Milwaukee.

I would run all three of them if I could because they all sound awesome, but this really came down to practical concerns. I weighed the pros of each marathon, and this is why I chose Lakefront:

1. Get to sleep in my own bed and don't have to travel
2. Low cost
3. More friends/coworkers around to celebrate with and cheer me on (in the Twin Cities I would only have one. I love ya Kate, but I'm sure you'd get sick of me hanging around)

These three things are what separate this marathon from the others. At the end of the day, as a first-time marathoner, these practical considerations won out over things like more crowd support and a more exciting course.

I'm sure I will miss the heightened excitement and camaraderie of the bigger city marathons. But, every decision has an opportunity cost. Hopefully, this is only my first of many marathons, and I will still get to experience TC, Chicago, and many other marathons in my future! I'm sure they will be even better when I can run them as a (slightly) more experience runner.

Registration opens for Lakefront in mid-January (I'm not gonna lie, the fact that their registration opens a month earlier than the others was a plus for me as well), and I'm counting down the days and ready to go! I can't wait for that feeling of being officially registered so the marathon can become real.

Until then, back to focusing on my other goals!

Thanks to all my runner friends for your continuing input and guidance :-) I hope you think I've made a good decision!

What are you willing to suffer for?

 This article (see below for link) has been making the rounds on my Facebook news feed. As with any opinion piece, there are solid grounds to agree with the author's POV or disagree with it. But for me, it resonated. And I don't think it would have resonated so well before I was a runner. Because that is immediately what I thought of, what I could relate to in this article.

The author asks us, "what pain are you willing to sustain?" In other words, the critical question in life isn't simply "what do I want?" but rather, "what do I want so much that I'm willing to love the struggle and pain necessary to achieve it?" It's easy for us to want anything and everything, but you can't achieve it without loving the blood, sweat, and tears that come with life's most prized successes. If you really want a lucrative and successful career, you have to love trudging through low-level jobs and putting in long weeks to work your way up to the top. If you really want a beautiful home, you have to love the endless search for the right house in the right location and giving up so much free time for renovations, repairs, and decorating. If you really want a great relationship, you have to love the emotional turmoil, multiple rejections and mixed signals that come with dating.

And if I really want to be a runner?

I have to love shelling out so much of my disposable income on winter running gear and race registrations.

I have to love that feeling about halfway through a run when it literally feels like I just cannot run another step and the energy it takes to push past that feeling (I believe they call this "running on the wall"?).

I have to love the frustration of a bad run and the disappointment of a bad race.

I have to love lining up for a race and instantly being surrounded by people who are naturally faster and much more experienced than I am - every single time.

I have to love the feeling that I ran faster and worked harder than ever before, yet still didn't reach my goal time, or when it feels like I ran a mile and I look down at the GPS to see I've only advanced about .4 miles. 

I have to love trying to squeeze in adequate training between a full-time job and volunteer/social engagements.

And I have to love that no matter how hard I work, how long I stick with it, and how good I get, there will always be someone better than me. There will be strangers who are better than me, there will be close friends who are better than me.

I have to love all this (and more) if I want the runner's high, the exhilaration of finishing a race and learning that I beat my previous time and trounced my expectations, the excitement of signing up for a race, the energy and camaraderie of race days.....and that incredible feeling when I finally have my very first half marathon medal hanging around my neck!

And I do. I do love all of this. I must, because otherwise I would have given up a long time ago. But it's been almost half a year and here I am - still running, still setting goals, still sticking with it. No one is holding my hand or forcing me to get out there, it's all on me, so clearly I must love the pain if I haven't given up yet.

I suggest everyone, runners and non-runners alike, check out the article. I'm sure it will resonate with you in some way if you've ever worked hard and sturggled for something you really want!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-manson/the-most-important-question_b_4269161.html

The Difference a Run Can Make

Yesterday, I did my weekly long run....after not having run for 7 whole days. Because it was snowing all day yesterday, I was tempted to skip yet another day too! But I pulled myself together and did that run anyway.

For a little perspective on how transformative a good run can be for one's mood and energy levels, I thought I'd write this as a "before" and "after" post. I jotted down some thoughts right before I left for my run, and I jotted down some thoughts when I came back. The difference is remarkable, and I learned a very important lesson in the aftermath.

BEFORE
I'm writing this before I go out to run. I'm all done up in my gear and ready to go. I have not run in 7 days now. All week I have felt sluggish, under the weather, and stressed. When I got home I just couldn't find it in me to do even the simplest runs. I feel terrible and I feel like I failed myself. My laziness won all week long. And no matter how bad I felt about not running, it wasn't enough to overcome my laziness. Today when I woke up and saw it was snowing I thought, great, now I can't go at all cause there is no way I can run in this. This weekend I have slept a lot, sat around the house doing nothing. I felt like doing that today. My legs feel restless due to lack of activity. I don't want to run but I don't want to do anything else either. I feel like a slug. I know it will make me feel better to run and I just kind of said to myself, screw it, I feel like crap anyway so what difference does it make that I'm going to get snowy and messy out there? I hate these days/weeks when I have absolutely no motivation to do the smallest things - do some dishes, throw some laundry in, go for a run. I hate these days when I'm so sick of sitting around doing nothing yet, I can't make myself do anything.

AFTER

My legs are hurting and numb, I am covered in cold wet snow. But I feel like a whole other person. It feels like I just took a metaphorical shower, like the run washed all the dirt and grime of my laziness off me and now I'm all fresh and clean. I feel like I left the house for a run and came back a different person - the lazy, lethargic girl seems years behind me. Ahhh, the runner's high. I have a fresh burst of positive and productive energy. And, most importantly - I beat it. That dark cloud that had been hanging over me all week, rumbling louder each day I put off running- it's gone now. I looked my laziness in the eye and kicked its butt and it felt great.

I realized something in all of this. I think about all the time I've spent lately pumping up for races and wondering what age group place I'll get and whether I can beat so-and-so's time, etc. And I realized that there are more important things than that. A real athlete knows that it's not about beating other people, it's about beating yourself. Not just your time or your personal achievements, but all those parts of you that work against you every day in your pursuit of becoming a better stronger runner: laziness, inertia, excuses. I need to be competitive with myself, with those parts of me, before I can be competitive with others. It's like that saying, you have to love yourself before you can love someone else. Well, a runner needs to challenge herself before she can challenge others.

With that in mind, no more skipping runs for entire weeks for no good reason! I promise to make this week much better. I have to - my next 5K is exactly three weeks away. I have three weeks to get myself in tip top shape to beat my last time of 28:22!!

My New Year's Running Resolution

 Can you believe 2014 is only 28 days away?! Since we're talking about the new year, I thought I'd share this calendar I made for all of my big 2014 races. I can't wait to run through 2014!

But I want to talk about my running resolution for 2014. Ah, New Year's Resolutions. Isn't it strange how even though we all know how futile NYR's are and that we never follow through with them, we can't resist making them year after year anyway? I mean really, how many people do you know that are still actively following through on the resolutions they made on January 1st of this year? (I have actually followed through on a few of mine in the past few years, but that's because they were hyper specific and structured and not just "be nicer" or "work out more". But I digress.)


I think it's a good idea to make a New Year's Resolution for myself that relates specifically to running. I think it's great thing to make a resolution for, since I have so many concrete running goals and objectives this year.

For some, a running resolution might be achievement-based like "medal in a 10K race" or "run a marathon in under 4:30". I think these are good resolutions, but I'm not at the point in my running where I have enough experience to know what a reasonable achievement-based goal is for me. In other words, I'd like to actually run a half-marathon first before I decide what my goal race time is.

More importantly, at this point I think it will be more productive for me to adapt a resolution that helps me develop a pattern of behavior or habit, not just one specific race goal.

So, my New Year's Running Resolution for 2014 is to switch my running from the evening to the morning.

I developed this running resolution after a lot of thinking recently about the struggles I'm having with training and how I can solve them. In an earlier post, I talked about how social obligations in the evening are really hurting my ability to get runs in during the week. I did mention the possibility of switching runs to the morning, but dismissed it because it would make my days too long and it's too hard for me to get up early. I am now reconsidering that stance.

It will make my day longer when I have some event or meeting in the evening. But morning is my only undisturbed time of day. In the evening, even if I don't have something scheduled, things come up. This doesn't happen in the morning.

My half marathon is now 5 months away. That's only about 20 weeks to get from a longest run of 4.5 miles to 13.1, so I really need to make sure training becomes a top priority from here on out. 20 weeks is long enough that I don't need to freak out, but with other races coming up earlier in the year, it is now much more crucial to my success that I am able to train consistently. Since I gave myself so much time to train for the half when I decided I wanted to do it back in August, I've had the luxury of being able to skip some training days during the week and not have it be the end of the world (although I have been faithful to my long run every weekend!). But I'm not going to have that luxury anymore, so I need to make it a priority that I can get enough training in every week. Since I can't always control the evenings, the only way to do that is to move running to the mornings.

This will be very challenging for me. As I've said before, I have a very difficult time getting up in the morning before I absolutely need to. I've tried to get into this habit before and have been unsuccessful every time, so if I want to make this work I'm going to need a good accountability system.

But I am also trying to think of all the benefits I'll reap from this strategy (not just the challenges!). Here are the notable ones:

• I will never have an excuse to miss a day of training
• ...therefore, I will be able to stick to a more consistent schedule
• My body will adapt to running in the morning, which is good since most races are in the morning
• It will give me a boost going into my work day
• There is not as much traffic early in the morning
• The gym is not nearly as crowded in the morning (for when I do cross training)
• I can come home after a long day of work and not worry about getting my run in when all I want to do is relax, or missing it when an errand or something comes up

And that's just a few of the benefits!

Wish me luck, everyone!

Which Marathon Should I Do?

 Ever since I started my running journey I've been debating whether I'm dedicated (and crazy) enough to run a full marathon one day. I've decided that I'm going to go for it. I am going to run a marathon in October of 2014.

Now that I've decided to do a marathon, the question is: which one? A marathon is upping the ante. A marathon is not something that most of us can run very often, so it follows that a runner would be more discriminate in choosing which marathon to run - especially your FIRST ONE!

All the marathons I've heard about sound pretty awesome, but I've narrowed it down to the three choices that are most likely and most sensible.

1) Denver Rock n Roll Marathon, Denver, CO
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Running a marathon in Denver would be cool for so many reasons. I have a personal connection to the city, as I served my year of AmeriCorps NCCC out of Denver. Many of my NCCC friends still live there. I haven't been back since I graduated from NCCC in July of 2011. I've always wanted to visit again but haven't had the chance. What better way to come back with a bang - exactly four years after I started the program - than kicking a marathon's butt? It would be great to see my NCCC friends again and have them there to cheer me on, too.

However, running this marathon would be very impractical for many reasons. First and foremost, it would require more time off from my job to accommodate travel to and from the city, and that travel would also cost a lot of money and interfere with my ability to rest before and after the race. It doesn't make sense to use up so much vacation time and spend so much money when there are marathons here in my neck of the woods that I can run.

Another huge concern is the altitude adjustment. Running a race is hard enough at an altitude I'm comfortable with. Granted, I didn't have much trouble adjusting to the Denver altitude when I started NCCC - but I was living a normal life at that time, not running a marathon. It just doesn't make sense to run my first marathon in an altitude my body isn't used to without adequate time to prepare for it. That could be disastrous.

Denver would be a dream marathon - reliving NCCC memories, seeing old friends, running with beautiful scenery surrounded by mountains. But I just don't think it's realistic.

2) Lakefront Marathon, Milwaukee, WI
Sunday, October 5th, 2014
Logistically, financially and practically, this marathon makes the most sense: it is right here in the Milwaukee area, so I wouldn't need to do any traveling and I wouldn't need any time off work other than the Monday recovery day. It will be a great course, too. But all of my races are in Wisconsin and all but two are here in Milwaukee. Running in Wisconsin is great, but I keep thinking that it would be nice to branch out and go somewhere new for my big marathon. It would amp up the excitement and novelty of the marathon experience.

Clearly, a balance is needed between the urge to go somewhere new and the need to consider practical (and financial) concerns. Which brings me to my final choice:

3) Chicago Marathon, Chicago, IL
Sunday, October 12, 2014
This marathon would require minimal travel, as Chitown is only a stone's throw away from Milwaukee (well, relative to other parts of the country anyway). I have friends from college who live in the area, so hopefully one of them would be gracious enough to host me and I wouldn't have to stay in a hotel that weekend. This also means that I would hopefully get to see a lot of friends and celebrate with them. I've heard the course is really cool and relatively flat, and it would allow me to explore the city in a novel way.

This is a bigger marathon than the Lakefront, so the environment will be less intimate - but I'm not really sure if that is a downside or not. I don't really have enough racing experience to know if I would actually prefer a smaller marathon.

So, it looks like it's really down to the Lakefront Marathon or the Chicago Marathon. I want to make a decision soon, because registration will open for each one in January, and Lakefront's website says this year's marathon sold out by April. Also, I just like registering as early as possible for my races. Peace of mind and all.

Any input from friends would be appreciated, especially if you've run any of these marathons before and can tell me what they're like :-)

Happy running!

Running and Winter = BFFs

Note: this is a dual post that also appears on my Winter Doesn't Have to Suck blog. I didn't start running until this summer, so this is my first winter as a runner. I was nervous about it but I have to say: winter running kinda rocks. Maybe I'm alone in this, but I don't care. Here's how running has made winter really not suck as badly:

1. Sweet Running Gear
Okay, so buying it hurt my wallet. A lot. But honestly, I like my gear - most of it from Under Armour and Target - and it gets me excited to go running. I love the colors and the fleeces and how warm they keep me. Yes, it's more of a hassle than in the summer when I can just fly out the door in shorts and a tank top. But my warm weather workout clothes aren't as fun and I'll actually be kind of sad when it's time to go back to them.

2. Cold Weather Running
Many people hate this. I thought I would. But I actually love it! I never dread going out into the cold if I'm going to be running, because I'm not gonna be cold. Not only do I not have to worry about overheating, but I can actually break a sweat being out in the cold! It's a great balance. And the reverse effect isn't possible during the summer: a run can't offset the hot weather by cooling me down as I run. So, I'm definitely going to enjoy this while it lasts.

3. Winter Races
My first big goal as a runner is the Wisconsin Half Marathon on May 3rd. Since I started running late this past summer, that means by training will really amp up in the dead of winter. Great, I thought, that's when all the 5Ks have stopped so how will I get some race practice in?

But the GLM Winter Race Series has my back. Six 5K & 10K races between October and March - it's perfect! I ran a 5K on November 24th and I'll run one on New Year's Eve (how cool is that?). Then I'll do 10Ks in February and March. I'm so grateful to have found out about this. Now I can get some races under my belt this winter! Not only is this critical to my training, but running races is one of the happiest things I do and these races give me something to look forward to this winter.

I am very thankful for the infusion of winter and running. Winter enhances my running and running makes it so winter doesn't have to suck!

Getting Better: My 2nd 5K Race!!

This Sunday, I ran my 2nd-ever competitive 5K. I ran the "Elf Run," which is the 2nd of 6 races in the GLM Winter Race Series (no, I'm not running all 6. I am running 4 of them; this was my first one).

In the days leading up to Sunday, I started feeling nervous. The high for Sunday was only 24 degrees! It's been a cold November, so it's not like I haven't run in cold weather yet. But never THIS cold! I wondered if it would have an adverse affect on my running that I couldn't forsee.

I was also nervous about how this race would compare to my last one. I did really well in my last 5K and got a much better time than I imagined. So, even though I made sure to not let that get to my head and to keep my expectations in check, it was tempting to just assume that this race would be even better. I keep trying to remember Pablo Coehlo's timeless novel The Alchemist, in which the protagonist at one point receives a warning about "beginner's luck": bascially, that it is an illusion that doesn't last and that he who isn't prepared for the difficulties that follow the initial beginner's luck is doomed to fail and give up. I had to remember that starting out really well doesn't mean all my races will be that way. Still, I really wanted to beat my old time, and I was afraid of feeling the disappointment of a "sophomore slump."

Well, Sunday morning was just as frigid as expected. Although clear and sunny, it was a bitter 19 degrees out. After going to the wrong building (that's what I get for assuming the SUV full of racers in front of us knew where they were going better than my directions did!), we arrived at the Expo center and picked up my sweet race bib and tshirt. I wasn't really nervous as we waited around with the crowds in the expo center, or as I bobbed up and down trying to keep my legs warm with all the other 5K runners who were crowded into the starting chute in the minutes before the race. I just kept reminding myself not to start off too quickly, to harness the energy of all the runners around me but also not to get fazed by them. And then, we were off! Finally!

The course was pretty boring - it just weaved through a corporate park area. Music is allowed in these races, so I took full advantage of that and let my running playlist pump me up. U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" came on in the middle of my race, which has to be one of the best running songs ever.

I pushed myself HARD for that last mile. They had timers at each mile, and I remember the surge of empowerment I felt as I neared the finish line and saw myself cross it at 20 seconds earlier than my time to beat. I had done it!!

And that was just the gun time. After waiting in the freezing cold line to get my results, I was stunned to see that my net time was 28:22 - a whole minute better than my last 5K time! And that I got a whopping 17th place in my age group - out of 50 people!

Minute by minute, I'm nearing my goal of medaling in one of the GLM Winter Series races. The races in this series give medals to the top 10 finishers of each gender age group, so realistically, this is my best shot to medal in a race that doesn't give medals just for finishing. I didn't expect one at this race, and I doubt I'll be able to medal in the next one - a 5K on New Year's Eve. But my last two races in this series will be 10Ks, not 5Ks, and I really hope to medal in at least one of them. Not as many people run 10Ks so I'm hoping if I stay on top of my training this will increase my chances of medaling in one of them. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, to sum it up: WOO HOO!! It's such a great feeling that my training is paying off and I can see myself improving. I'm slowly getting better, faster, and more competitive. 17/50 is SO not bad!! If only all my days could feel as good as race days :-)

Why I Run

Ah - the classic "why I run" piece. I can honestly say I never thought I'd write one of these. First of all, I didn't even think I had any overarching reason for running. Most of the "why I run" things I read sound like they could be on a Nike commercial or a Pinterest board full of inspirational quotes. I really didn't relate to any of those because I didn't think any of my reasons for running are buried that deep, honestly. I just want to do it, I like the challenge, I like the attainable goals and the regular exercise (and, of course, the runner's high).

But this weekend, it struck me that maybe I do have a deeper reason than bragging rights and stamina improvement - something that's been motivating me all along and I never knew.

This weekend was one of those times when I was thinking about a bunch of things that are stressful at work, and it made me feel like a goldfish in a bowl: all I could think of was escape. Instead of trying to deal with the stress I just started thinking of how I can't wait until I move up in the world and have a job where I don't have to deal with what I do now. Instead of keeping myself in the present, I daydream of the future and start wondering how the heck I'm gonna get there. It was easier when I was in AmeriCorps, or working part-time, or in college, because whenever things got stressful with my job or living situation I could comfort myself with "it's only temporary, I only have X more months and then I can move on and never look back." But now that I have a full-time job and a place in this community, I can't think like that. I'm here, and I'm committed to my job and my life. I can't just check out whenever things get stressful and unpleasant, and I can't escape my adult responsibilities. So instead, I've started to channel that fight-or-flight urge into running. Instead of figuratively trying to run away, well...I do it literally instead.

Running gives me a way to set my sights higher, break down barriers, and continually achieve greater things - even when I feel like I have no clue how to do that in my professional life. All of us feel like our daily stresses get the better of us sometimes, and it's easy to feel like they're the end of the world even if our head tries to tell us they're not. But running isn't like that. There is no run I can't conquer, and I know that. No matter how exhausted I get mid-run, I know that I can push through and keep going and be rewarded at the end with the sweet triumph of getting it done.

So, I guess that's why I run. Running is always there for me whenever my adult life responsibilities have me thinking "I WANT OUT!" In all those goals and all of those workouts, I can channel both the frustration of feeling overwhelmed by adult life stresses, and the desire to burst out of my life and into something better. Whatever's going on at work, it can't touch me when I'm running. In running I can regain the confidence in myself when it feels like everything else is out of control.

That, and it'll be pretty sweet to get some medals.

Running and Time Management

It's been almost 2 months since I last posted here - yikes! I do feel really bad about that, but life has been a little crazy as I try to adjust to being busier with volunteer work and social stuff and taking on new projects.

You'll also note that I've rebranded and renamed the blog. Now that I like running and am setting all these goals for myself, I don't really identify with the "anti-runner" like I used to.

But the important thing is - I HAVE been running still! Don't worry everyone, I did not give up! Quite the opposite: I ran my first "real" 5K on Sunday, October 13th in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA. It was a beautiful, chilly day and I stunned myself by running it in 29:38!! I know that that doesn't sound like a competitive time to any other runner out there, but this is huge for me for my first ever timed 5K! I am lucky to get 2.5 miles in 25 minutes on my normal runs, so to finish a 5K in under 30 minutes was incredible!

I've been keeping up with my running since then, but today I want to talk about a big problem I'm having with training and time management. The problem? Well...it's hard. This fall, as I've joined new organizations and taken on more volunteer work, I've had weeks that are so busy I'm lucky if I can squeeze a run in during the work week (I run in the evenings). Last week I only ran ONCE in seven days (I was not pleased with myself!) because I had something going on every evening except Friday and by then I was too burned out.

This is starting to frustrate me. On the one hand, being busy and doing things in the community is important to me. It was a goal of mine to meet new people and become involved in the community instead of sitting at home and staying in my shell, and I've really worked hard and put myself out there to make that happen. But now that it is happening, I'm starting to see that it's no picnic. But the thing is, being this busy means sacrificing running time. And while my social life is important, running is ALSO important to me. And as I get closer to my half in May, it's going to be less acceptable to skip runs during the week. I want to be more focused on my training, but in order to do that I'd have to give up some of my activities, and that's hard for me. So, many weeks I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place.

So, I'm trying to kick into problem-solver mode to see how I can reconcile these two things that compete for my time and energy. I could cut back on some of my extra curriculars. But the thing is, I already don't do much more than the essentials: meetings, important events, book club every so often. It's just busy right now and hopefully it will die down a bit after the holidays and I can focus more on training in the early months of 2014.

Another option is for me to do my running at a different time, aka, in the morning. This is possible and I often consider it, but it's problematic for a number of reasons. One: I can't get up early. I just can't. I've tried to make myself get up earlier so many times and I can never stick with it. Two: I don't want to give up evening running, because I like it. After a long day of sitting at work, I look forward to that "release" I get from running. It's theraputic and refreshing. Three: The inverse to Reason 2 - I don't like exercising before work. I don't know why, I just don't. When I run or workout, I like to reward myself by knowing that once I get through it, I have free time. Working out before I have to go to work all day just makes the workout feel like a chore instead of something that adds to my day. I just don't like having a great workout only to have to follow it up by sitting at work for 9 hours. Yeah, maybe I haven't given it enough of a chance, but even if I did, that leads into reason Four: it would make my days (and thus, weeks), longer and more tiring. Some weeks I can barely get through as it is, but having a morning workout would mean a run and possibly an event/late meeting all in the same day and just thinking about that makes me exhausted.

So anyway, that's where I'm at. I'll continue to problem-solve about my time management and try, while I'm at it, to be better at updating my blog too. Happy Friday!

Good Run, Bad Run

I feel bad that I haven't written in this blog in a while. It's hard to make the case that "I AM SRS BLOGGR" when I rarely ever write. But, fear not - I have been running, and that's what's most important!

I want to talk about two runs I did this weekend. On Friday after work I did a 20-minute run. The weather was great and as I was into the home stretch, I found myself thinking: something is different this time. This run, it's....it's.....not as hard as usual. In fact, right now, it's not hard at all. Normally by this point in my runs, my legs are tired, I'm running slow, and I'm just trying to get to the end. But I realized that at that moment, I wasn't tired, and I was actually running a little bit faster than normal. Well, hot damn, I thought, I'm making progress! I'm getting better! I can actually feel my runs getting a little bit easier! I'm finally seeing results!

My next run was my "long run" on Sunday morning (okay, to be fair, since I'm so new to running and can't run very far or fast yet, at this point in my training the "long run" isn't really that much longer than my 20 minute runs). I was riding high from that great run on Friday evening. Invigorated by how much easier that run had been than normal, I burst out onto the road on Sunday morning, expecting this run to be just as successful as the Friday night run.

But it wasn't, and I knew it within minutes of starting. Before I even made it out of the neighborhood my legs were tired. The uptick in pace that I felt on Friday evening was not going to be happening today - I was back to running really slow, and even then, I spent most of the run waiting for it to be over. There were times, around that dreaded midway point, where I honestly wondered how I'd get through the last half without stopping. It wasn't a terrible run, and no, I never stopped to walk - but it felt like I'd gone back in time to when I just started training, and all the progress I felt like I'd made was just some sort of illusion. What??

I understand that training is not a perfectly linear progress and that every once in a while, I will have bad days and setbacks. But sometimes I can't help but wonder: is this just a routine setback that happens to all runners, or am I just not going to get better? Maybe I am just not good at this.

And I also wonder, what could I be doing wrong in my training? There's advice everywhere for the best ways to do things, but it's starting to make me feel like I'm on information overload. What to eat, what to wear, when to run, where to run, when to focus on speed and distance, etc etc. There's no possible way I can know what works best for me until I try it out, but I don't want to find a schedule or technique that works well for me only to learn it was actually working against me in my training. Sometimes I'm just like, "arrrggg, I thought running was supposed to be simpler than other forms of exercise??"

When I think about it, there are explanations for why Friday's run was an unexpected success and why Sunday morning's fell flat. When I ran on Friday, it was in the evening, so I had eaten two meals already that day. On Sunday I hadn't eaten anything yet. Also, on Friday, I had that boost of energy from knowing my week was over and I had the whole weekend ahead of me.

I don't know exactly why some runs go well and some don't. But, at the end of the day, I guess all I can do is continue to navigate my training: enjoy those unexpected good runs, and don't get beaten up by the bad ones.

The Cleanse

As a former anti-runner, who believed that I just wasn't cut out for running and that it just wasn't the right form of exercise for me, a big part of my journey is shedding those misconceptions by not only learning to enjoy running, but also letting it open doors for me in ways I couldn't have imagined before. You should be seeing many of those on this blog as I continue to immerse myself in running.

One of the things I now love about running is that feeling of the cleanse. Adult life is full of so much clutter - material clutter, mental clutter, emotional clutter, information clutter. Sorting through all of it to find a way to be happy and figure out where you're going is a daunting task for all of us. But when I'm running, I feel a lot of that clutter melt away. I feel like I'm taking a shower and watching the metaphorical dirt pour off of me. Running, to me, is a great way to cut through all of the life clutter and take a short cut to the happier, simpler simpler sense of being I crave every day. The endorphin high can combat all of the noise, all the pressures and influences telling me that the way to happiness is by buying better clothes or spending more time on social media or joining more activities or redecorating my house or going through some other herculean effort to "reinvent" myself. Exercise - especially running, where I have so much to work for and accomplish - makes me realize that I don't need all of that. It makes me see everything so much more clearly.

When I'm running everything comes into focus and I realize that this is the way: making myself healthier and stronger. I may get sweatier, but inside I am cleaner. And I can tell, each time I run, that as long as I keep doing this, other things will fall into place. I'll get healthier, my diet will improve, my life will fall into more of a routine, and I'll be more productive and feel more revitalized. I look forward to my runs because they make everything come into focus and they give me that positive boost that no amount of money, information, or anything else can.

So, this is one of the reasons I've found to stick with running. The first was the sense of accomplishment and working toward a goal; my newest one is this, the sense of being cleansed.

From Point A to Point B

I know this will seem like a long time coming to all of my runner friends, but my run on Saturday was the first time I ever did a "destination run", aka, running from one place to another. Normally my runs are just for X minutes or Y miles, and I'm either running randomly around park trails, or in the future when it's too cold to run outside, running laps on a track, or (please! don't judge!) on the treadmill on the gym.

I never realized how much different the experience is when you're actually running to get to a specific place.

This weekend, the number of miles I wanted to run happened to coincide perfectly with the distance to our neighborhood Farmer's Market, which I wanted to peruse that morning. Great - I could run to the market and kill two birds with one stone!

And, I did it! I didn't run fast but I ran the entire way. I didn't stop to walk. And when I finally got to the park and was rewarded with a stunning view of the morning sun over the lake dotted with sailboats, I was shocked that it was over already. It had seemed like it would be sooo much farther and I was amazed how quickly I got there.

Even though this wasn't my fastest or most intense run, it was the most rewarding so far. It transformed running from something that felt like a chore, a task to be checked off a to-do list, into something empowering. Pretty much everywhere seems too far away to run the whole way there, like a big wall in between what's possible and what I can achieve. But I managed to knock one brick out of the wall and now, for the first time, it seems like I can eventually kick the whole thing down. I knew I could bike to the market, or drive there, or even walk there even though it would take forever. I never imagined I could run the whole way there but now, I know I can.

Running from Point A to Point B is a great way to run. It helps you get those miles in without constantly looking down at your watch/app/whatever, and it gives you a bonus feeling of accomplishment in addition to the one you already get from getting a good run in: I didn't just run, I got myself somewhere.

Just some Tuesday Night Tidbits!

Hi friends.

I know it's been a while since I've blogged. I have to admit that August has been pretty sluggish in terms of my running (and, to be fair, it's not just the running that's been sluggish).

Tonight I went for a short easy run even though it's like 90 degrees out. I was taking my cool shower, still feeling those workout endorphins, thinking - this is why people do it. That post-workout feeling of being so refreshed, recharged, alive. It makes me feel so far away from the same person who, on other nights, just comes home and does nothing. Who IS that girl, and why would she ever be lazy when she could go for a run and feel like this?

I know people say it's best to work out in the morning, and I'm sure I'll see why once I start making myself do just that. But, I have to say, I am on Team Evening Workout. I like it a lot. It is the perfect pick-me-up after a long day of sitting in front of a computer screen, which leaves me feeling so drained every day. I'm actually eager to work out a lot of days after leaving the office. A quick workout at the end of the day gives me a burst of energy to be productive for the rest of the evening, and helps me sleep better that night.

Also, I just purchased a little running inspiration! I found out about this Etsy shop called "Running on the Wall," and once I checked it out I fell in love with this:

....and now, a few bucks later, it's on it's way! It's a cute wall decoration AND a great way to save race bibs while keeping them organized. Plus, looking at that empty medal rack every day will just motivate me to go out there and FILL IT! Maybe money can't buy happiness, but it can buy inspiration!

You know how I found out about this shop? Kimmy Gibler from Full House is actually a big runner in real life these days. I was reading her Twitter and she had a pic of this that she has in her own room, brimming with medals and race bibs. Alright, Gibbler!

Well, that's all for now. Just wanted to shoot off an entry since I haven't posted in a while. I hope you all are doing well!

My Half Marathon Training Schedule!

With the help of several friends and templates I found on Pinterest, I have finally compiled a skeleton of a training schedule for myself!

The best schedules I found had a good balance of running and other exercise like cardio, strength training, and yoga. It's a lot to take on for someone who is not used to frequent, regimented exercise, but I definitely wanted to include all of these in my training to stay well rounded. But I still wanted to make sure that running was the dominant player in my training, of course.

Also, most of the training schedules I found include different types of running: long runs, slow and steady runs, "tempo" runs, etc. I tried to incorporate as many of these into the schedule as I could.

In the end, there just aren't enough days in the week to cram in everything I'd like to do. I decided that some things I would do every week, and some I would have to alternate between weeks. I also tried to keep the schedule the same for each week.

• Monday - Yoga OR easy run
• Tuesday - Easy run OR yoga
• Wednesday - Hills or tempo or sprint/walk running (alternate)
• Thursday - Cardio/strength train OR REST
• Friday - REST OR Cardio/strength train
• Saturday - Long Run
• Sunday - REST

So, a sample week might look like this:

• Monday: Easy run, 3 miles
• Tuesday: Yoga class
• Wednesday: Tempo run, 3 miles
• Thursday: Swimming
• Friday: REST
• Saturday: 6 miles
• Sunday: REST

I am still hashing out the week-by-week schedule; obviously, with my half marathon nine months away, I've got some time. This is actually the big challenge I'm having with compiling a training plan: it's so far away still. No training plan I've come across has catered to a half marathon that's so far in the future. That's why my friend Kelsey's training plan was such a huge help to me: it schedules about 6 months out, which is much closer to the time frame I'm looking at. Most schedules I come across are 12-week plans. So what I've had to do is find a way to "stretch" them out to accommodate my longer training time. My plan is to do this by 1) repeating some weeks verbatim in the beginning of my training - instead of going from 3 to 3.5 miles on my runs, for example, I just stay at 3; and 2) shortening some of my weeks in the beginning, for example, cutting out the yoga class and the easy run from the example above.

Another idea I have is for the earlier weeks to have a heavier focus on the variety exercise like cardio and strength training, and then have these things gradually taper off (but not disappear) so I can focus more on the running.

So, here is what I still need to do:

1. Come up with a final schedule
2. Figure out what to do for strength training

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped and offered to help so far. It means a lot to me that so many people are supportive of my journey and willing to run it with me, even if only figuratively :-)

If anyone has suggestions for what I should modify about or add to my training plan, PLEASE let me know. I could use all the help I can get!

Overcoming Doubt with Inspiration: Shawn Johnson, Liz Murray, and the power of little epiphanies

Lately, as I've been lacing up for my running, I've felt the excitement and confidence of my new goal being pushed aside by something else: doubt. I just can't picture myself running 13 miles when I can barely huff and puff my way through 3. Is this even physically possible? How will I stick with this? Because the idea of me running that long without stopping seems like science fiction at this point.

I know this sounds really stupid and petty, but I had this secret hope that I could just burst onto the scene and wow everyone with how fast I was and win all these races and stuff. Then I realized how many people I know are runners, and how many of them have been running much longer than I have, and how many of them have already achieved my goals, multiple times, and with better times than I'm likely to get. It made me feel so discouraged. I'm not special, I realized, and there will always be someone I know who is faster than I am. I'm not going to be in the top finishers of the next race I run, or the one after that, or the one after that. I have to remind myself that these people, and the friends I have who are better than me, have been working hard for years, have run many races and only slowly, steadily gotten better. It takes years - lifetimes, even - for elite athletes and other successful people to get to the top. I've been at it for....a month.

I know how ridiculous it sounds that I thought I could just spring up out of nowhere and be better than people who have been doing this for years. And maybe I deserve to be judged for that. But hopefully, before judging, the people reading this will also recall a time in their own lives when they were so excited about a new goal that they momentarily forgot about reality.



As I was cruisin' along through Discouragedville, a moment of clarity suddenly and rudely forced its way to the front of my long line of doubts. I asked myself: what's the worst that could happen? Let's say I try my hardest and I'm still not as good as everyone else, I don't get a good time, I don't "beat" my peers. If those things don't happen, what, at the end of the day, will still be true? Let's see:

1.  I will have accomplished my goal of completing a half-marathon
2. I will be in great shape and reaping the benefits of continuous exercise
3. I will have accomplished something that many, many people haven't
4. I will have proven myself wrong, and will be a better person for it

So even if I'm still the slowest, least-decorated runner I know, I will have accomplished so much for myself. Kind of puts all my discouragement and misplaced competitiveness into perspective, eh?


I want to share some other examples that give me inspiration in the face of doubt. Hopefully these ladies can inspire you, too, whatever your goals may be.

1. Shawn Johnson
You've probably heard of Shawn, the now-retired American gymnast who won the silver medal in the All-Around at the 2008 Olympics. Like every gymnast, Shawn's lifelong goal was to be the Olympic All-Around champion. In one of the more candid moments of her autobiography, Winning Balance, Shawn describes the exact moment during the competition when, as she waited to begin her final routine, she saw her teammate Nastia Liukin's score flash onto the scoreboard and she realized, in front of millions of people, that the goal she'd worked her entire life for was mathematically impossible. She would not win the gold medal. Of course, it decimated her and all she could feel was frustration and hopelessness: why bother, she thought. But then, in the seconds before her routine began, she pulled herself together as she realized: I'm at the Olympics, representing my country. I can't control my scores, and I can't control the fact that I can no longer win the gold medal. But I can go out there and give the routine of my life and show everyone why I am still the best gymnast in the world. I can't win this gold medal, but I can win the hearts and minds of all the fans watching me right now. And she did. Shawn would go on to win gold in another event, but she says she wouldn't trade her All-Around silver medal for anything. "I won the All-Around in the way that meant the most to me," she said.

Now, I wouldn't even dream of comparing my goal to Shawn's accomplishments. But this moment from her life is a great reminder that I don't have to be the best to do my best. I don't have to win or beat others to show people what I'm made of. People will respect you for working hard, giving it your all, and having a good spirit throughout. There are different ways to win.

2. Liz Murray
Another place I recently found inspiration was the autobiography Breaking Night: My Journey from Homeless to Harvard. The title sums it up pretty well: Liz Murray tells us her story of going from homeless by age 13, to eventually getting a NY Times scholarship and being admitted to the most prestigious school in the world. She notes that when she was interviewing for the scholarship and applying to Harvard, she really had no idea how nervous she ought to be, how hugely significant these endeavors were, or the enormity of the odds against her. In retrospect, Liz says, one of the reasons she was successful in both of these pursuits was that she didn't know what a big deal they were. If she had known how competitive that scholarship was or how unlikely it is to get into Harvard, she would have gotten discouraged and doubtful and talked herself out of the things she was working so hard for.

I, on the other hand, can't go back an unlearn what I know about the larger context of my goals. But I can choose to block all of that out and, like Liz, focus on what actually matters: working for my goals, achieving something for myself, and making myself better.

I still get doubtful and discouraged sometimes. But with the inspiration of Shawn, Liz, my own epiphanies, and the supportive people in my life, I am getting past my insecurities so I can focus on what really matters.




If any of my runner friends are reading this, I'd love to hear from you about how you overcome doubt and where you get inspiration. Pass it on! :)

My First 5K - The Color Run!!

You're lookin' at a gal who has officially completed her first 5K! Whoo hoo, I did it!



Thousands of people in white shirts packed into the START chute on that unseasonably cold, cloudy July morning. Some were in bouncy groups of friends, others in family groups with parents and children, still some in couples. Very few, I think were like me - runnin' solo. Because there were so many of us, they staggered the start time and had us start in chunks. The fact that we didn't all start together and all of us were here in different posses (or, ahem, lack thereof) symbolized the fact that this wasn't really a race but a collection of people for whom this race had different meanings: a fun family outing for some, an excuse to party and stay in shape for others. And then, packed somewhere inside the herd of eagerly-waiting Color Runners, was me: for me, this race was the first step into my new journey. I definitely wasn't the only one in the crowd attempting a 5K for the first time. But I wondered how many others were using this Color Run as the starting point of a journey to conquer their doubts about what they are capable of.

My first 5K was a lot of fun. At each color station, I made sure to get close to the sides of the lane so I could get as much powdered color on me as possible - and even that didn't seem like enough.
I was able to jog a good portion of the way without stopping at first, but after a while I had to settle for run-walking. I knew this would happen - after all, I only had like 3 weeks of training. That plus the fact that it's the Color Run made it hard to be disappointed in my performance. But at one point, as I was panting through a stretch of jogging on my way to the Yellow color station, I thought: how will I EVER be able to do 10 more miles of this?! If 3.1 were giving me trouble, I couldn't imagine a time when I could ever RUN non-stop for 13 miles! Will I really be able to do this one day?

The Color Run delivered on its promise and was a very happy 5K. I ran enough of it that I felt exhilarated when I was done, ready to take on the day (the best part: I'd done all of this and it wasn't even 10:30 AM yet!). This truly was a new experience for me, and I can't wait for more. I can see how people get addicted to the thrill of completing races.

My next 5K is the "Especially for You" 5K for breast cancer prevention in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, IA. It's not until mid-October, though, so I'm trying to find another one to do between now and then to keep myself motivated and get more practice. After all, I intend to go out with a bang in my hometown 5K!

Some pics from The Color Run, July 28, 2013, Milwaukee

The BEFORE pic....

...aaaand the AFTER pic!!

Why Run?

This is my blog about training for 5Ks and, eventually, a half marathon. I never thought I'd become yet another running blogger; running blogs (and blogs in general) are a dime a dozen these days, so what new could I possibly add to all of that? But, as I was thinking about my new foray into running and my progress so far, I realized my thoughts about it are richer than I thought they would be, so I figured...oh, why not?

 Here's my story.

 Why would someone who has never liked running decide to train for a half marathon? It all started when I decided, on July 1st, to register for The Color Run here in Milwaukee. It just seemed like it would be fun, and cool thing to say I did. I'd only have weeks to prepare which wouldn't be nearly enough time for me to properly train for a 5K...but The Color Run is supposed to be fun and I'll be proud of myself for trying my best and not walking the whole thing. As I started to prepare for it, I began to wonder: why stop there? Why not challenge myself even more?

 I know that doesn't really answer why I'm doing this. As the title of this blog suggests, I don't run because I just loooooove running so much. I'm doing all this because I want to feel that sense of accomplishment. I feel like that's been missing in my adult life: that feeling you get from setting a goal, working really hard, and then ACHIEVING it. It's so hard to find that in the adult life, where the emphasis is on fulfilling your responsibility and taking care of yourself. No one is standing in line to congratulate you just for doing your job, paying your bills on time, finishing 4 books this month, or any of the little things that might feel like accomplishments to you. Who cares? Unless you're an Olympic athlete or breakout business star, it's hard to get praise and acknowledgement that was showered upon us when we achieved in school athletics and academics. I know that it's supposed to be enough to accomplish something for yourself...but let's face it, we're human, and we're hardwired to crave social validation and praise from our peers. I want to accomplish something that others can appreciate.

 Also, I want to pose a challenge to myself and others. I want to challenge the Hanna who said she could never do something like this because she isn't good at running and hates it, the Hanna who thinks she's not athletic and isn't disciplined enough to achieve something like this. And hopefully, in case someone actually reads this one day, I can challenge them to be better than themselves, too - maybe they will in turn be inspired to do the thing that the naysaying voice inside constantly scoffs at. That's my story. I'm not trying to force myself to love running, I just want to achieve the goal that I have set for myself of running in the Kenosha half marathon in the Spring. If I happen to fall in love with running, that's great. If I happen to totally transform into a fitness guru who eats healthy and works out religiously, that's great too. But those aren't my goals. Right now, I'm just focused on achieving my goal, proving myself wrong, and being better than the person I was before July 1st.