Making Strides

I ran my first 5K today. Yup–RAN. In the rain.

For my mother–a survivor.

For my aunt–a survivor.

For my daughters–for their tomorrows.

For me–to show myself that I could do it.

I did it! I made Strides against Breast Cancer. I got a team of 11 other walkers–including my mother and daughters–and a team of volunteers to cheer us on and clean up the park.

I ran. I was the only runner. I wasn’t wearing pink so I’d tell the route monitors that I should have never taken a bet from my trainer (he made a donation if I would run it) and they’d point me onward.

I did get lost once. The sign was obscured by the hill so I hadn’t gone far enough. I back tracked and get reoriented. I stopped the stopwatch for just a minute or so. Rerunning the same path probably made up for not realizing the walk had started so I walked the first 30 feet or so…

I was coming to the finish line and they thought I was just a runner so they were moving the sign out of the way. “No! Move it back over! I want that finish line!”

35:11

The goal wasn’t the time–it was just to finish. Next 5K I have to beat this time … but I’ll think about that on another day.

I finished. I ran.

I hate running. 😛

Thank you Team E.o.t.T. for walking the walk and for cheering us on! And thank God for every day I have with my mother and for every stride forward, whether walking or running.

E.o.t.T. Pressing On

It has been an interesting week at the gym. I might have gone for 130 lb. press this week but it didn’t happen. Why? That’s a good question.

Last Friday (the 1st) I pressed 120 fairly easily. 5 sets of 2, working on holding my breath and pushing through. I bailed on the timed run after that because the wind made me feel as if I was running naked. I’m not sure how long it took for to feel my thighs again.

Monday (the 4th) I substituted so I went to the gym on Tuesday. We were going for 125 lbs. We were also making a change–it would be an actual press and not my usual Swiss or multi-grip bar work out. **I had the wrong kind of bar listed in my original posting. Sorry for the confusion.**

We were going for 4 sets of 2.

I lost confidence. Not sure if it confidence in myself and then ultimately not having confidence the trainer was going to grab the bar should I crumble… I don’t know.

I have a neck vertebrae that will get subluxated (moved out of place) that causes pain in my collar bone–I had actually thought is was my first rib out of place, but after examining me the chiropractor feels it is a neck misalignment. I was feeling that on Tuesday. It figures as I’m due for a visit to the chiropractor. Was this going to cause pain or weaken my left arm? Would I be able to still press if one are wasn’t at it’s best?

Should I compensate by driving through my healing and engaging my back? I was feeling my lower back tense up in ways it hadn’t previously. With lower back issues, what would I do if those muscles seized? I couldn’t afford to have my back go out.

Would my trainer catch the bar?

It was not my best day. The 4th set was abysmal. A clear indication I needed to work on 125 lbs and proper technique before even thinking of moving on. My runs were sad but thankfully not pathetic (and thankfully not timed).

Wednesday was my circuit and while I didn’t kill the times I at least ran through each set maintaining the same time of 1 minute 30 seconds. Runs were okay.

Yesterday the trainer said we’d go for 125 lbs but just three sets of two. I hadn’t been to the chiropractor so I was still favoring my left arm. My back did a little better–tried a different position. I also tried not to slow the bar down and do what is called “a light touch”–you need to stay in motion to use the momentum to keep pushing. My sets weren’t bad but I still don’t feel confident. Not in myself. My trainer did a good job of making sure I was confident in his presence–he was there to catch the bar should I crumble.

My timed runs were interesting–first 6 laps were right on target with previous times. I lost about 20 seconds on the second set of 6. Not my worst time, but not my best either.

It feels bad to doubt myself. I’m not sure where it is coming from.

Next week he has declared that if I can keep to M-W-F then we will bench all three days and practice 125 lb. till I get my confidence back. Hopefully a massage and an adjustment will do what they should and my left arm, neck, and low back will be ready for the challenge.

Or is something else draining my confidence?

One Month: April 2012

Oh My! I guess the joke was on me–I forgot to post about my One Month Goals! (I don’t feel all that bad as Jen on the Edge herself didn’t post until today!)

March Review

1. Finish figuring out how to track everything and make an understandable budget. Um, well, I spent way more than I planned to but now I can see how that happens. As I type this I am getting ready to finally install Quicken and hopefully April will be better.

2. Turn 38 with a bang! My birthday was great because I am surrounded by Vivacious women. Bummed I didn’t get to see SoccerMom or finally me Jen on the Edge, but one day I will. My scrapbooking weekend was awesome as usual. Can’t wait for next year. While I did not top my all-time high of 81 views … and really considering that was a weird day with spam referer traffic … I did get my 38th, 39th, 40th AND 41st follower during the month of March. Thank you guys!

3. Lose weight. Oooo not so good. Actually, I think I finally broke the cycle and was trending downward this past week but then I had dinner at Castiglia’s, finished off both daughters’ Blizzards, lunch at Chili’s (for a great cause–raising funds for Relay for Life), and celebratory Rita’s gelatis to celebrate two wins for a great start to this spring soccer season. So if I can behave the rest of this week… oh who am I kidding Easter is on Sunday.

April Goals:

1. Have a fun and stress free Spring Break. Not sure what we’ll do but day trips and time with the grandparents will be the order of the day.

2. Get caught up on Spring Cleaning. Just a little at a time. Make list for home repairs and what not for DH and I to conquer together (whether by proper budgeting or as a family project).

3. Take the dogs for more walks. And allow this time to clear the head. It will be good for the soul.

For the blog that started this all, check out JenontheEdge.

Busiest Day

So my stats tell me that March 10, 2011 was my busiest day thus far with 84 visitors to my blog. I can only conclude that some how I managed to be Freshly Pressed that day. What an honor!

I do not believe this will happen again on this day but I would love to be Freshly Pressed in the future.

The steady, faithful visitors are great. I love hearing from anyone who stops by. I hope I am educating as well as entertaining. Most importantly, though, this blog has been a great outlet for me. And I do enjoy getting text messages from DH reminding me to spellcheck. HA!

Last week I got my 37th follower: Welcome Fresh Ink

Of course My Site Stats do not match up. One says I have 23 WordPress followers and 5 email followers. The other gives the nice total of 37, with 28 blog followers and 9 email followers. Which is correct? I’ll never know because I cannot figure out how I can have 35 views and yet data for only 19 pages/posts/whatever. Oh, and don’t get me started on the spammers.

That being said, I’ll gladly take the 37th follower. But what I’d really like is a 38th follower for my 38th birthday. That would definitely help me achieve one of my One Month goals.

I’d probably have more followers if I actually came clean and told my friends about this blog. It is so hard to let go of this anonymous security blanket! We’ll see.

Enjoy your Saturday. I hope you are having a sunny March day! In like a lion… out like a lamb!