Category Archives: Running

Workin’ It Out

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Hey hey! As you may have noticed, more of my entries lately have not been centered around running. The past several posts have been about other things that I’m passionate about (and also things I have been working on and studying in school).

A few weeks ago I wrote a pretty mopey post because I wasn’t able to run as much as I wanted and for some reason I thought that was my fault. In reality, my body was just sick and needed to recover. All of my systems were totally out of whack for about two weeks and workouts were few and far between.

On Thanksgiving I decided to go to Zumba and it was SO GREAT to be reunited with an old love. It wasn’t running but it is an awesome, fun workout that got my endorphins pumping. Still listening to my body, I was just working out when I felt like it. Some days I had to force myself because it is too easy to be lazy and not go workout when you know good and well your body is perfectly capable.

Fast forward to last week. I’ve been gradually getting back into a workout routine which includes Zumba at the ungodly hour of 5:45AM on Thursdays. A couple of Sundays ago I had so much junk pent up of things I’ve been having to deal with, that I wanted to go to the gym before church to just run it off. I knew it just had to make me feel better. And guess what…it did. Those 2.5 miles of running and walking was just the release I needed.

At this time I felt like I felt when I first started running–I used it as my coping mechanism. The exact same can be said for this early Sunday run. One day wasn’t enough, I wanted to run more. It didn’t make me insanely tired like it did when I was still recovering from mono. I was craving running again. Long story short, I’ve been exercising regularly again!

Last week I logged a couple of 3-mile runs through the week, and on Saturday I had a definite goal of wanting to run 5 miles. I did so on the treadmill at the gym and after that 5th mile I didn’t want to stop! So I kept going until I ran out of time and ended up running 5.75 miles. This is the longest I have ran since June and the feeling was way super amazing! I’m finally feeling strong and capable again.

I took Sunday and Monday off (due to tiredness and finals) and yesterday I hit up Pilates at 9am which was a slice of humble pie. I am so sore. It hurts to laugh, to raise my arms and even twist from side to side. It is pathetic how weak my core is, but I am determined to make this class a part of my new routine because I NEED a strong core. Pilates was followed by Zumba at 10am and near the end of the class I wanted to promptly fall over.

When I woke up this morning, I didn’t have a workout planned, and I wanted to run but I also didn’t want to run. But I wanted to run more than I didn’t, so I hit the treadmill again for a little speed session of 3.5 miles. I made it a progression run, so each mile I turned up the speed a little bit and felt awesome afterwards.

Soreness from yesterday combined with a workout today pretty much means that I’ll be wobbly and moving as little as possible all day. This is the stuff I missed most :) I’m working on a not-totally-running-centered post for later this week…but this has been on my mind to share the most lately!

From Square One

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Foreword: This is a long post.

I haven’t been writing about any recent personal accounts with running lately because while I have been running (a little), I didn’t want to jinx anything!

The last time I went to the doctor several weeks ago during that gross mono flare up, she told me that I was literally only allowed to run ONE mile at a time. She is a runner and probably worried that I wouldn’t listen (not like I hadn’t listened before…….) but after all of the sickness I had been through, I was sure to heed her direct instructions this time. Start with 1 mile, then 2 after 1 became comfortable again…but really, when is ONE mile comfortable? Never. That’s when.

So I believe it was about 3 weeks ago when I set out and ran ONE mile around a pond in a park on a nice, freezing fall morning. I’m really glad I only did one lap of the lake because I forgot how to dress appropriately for cold running weather. But boy, did I feel on top of the world! One mile, yeah! I was so happy.

The following week, I worked my way up to a 2 and 2.5 mile loop around where I live, and I was thrilled. Because I was running shorter distances, I was running faster than I normally would in the past which felt really nice, but my legs also burned, which I loved.

Last week, I set out to conquer 4 miles on the treadmill,  while at a slower pace than I run outside and wanting to give up at mile 3.5, I accomplished the goal of 4 miles. This past Saturday was our Girls on the Run 5k, and I had promised a girl that I was going to be her running buddy, which was my motivation for running the 4 miles earlier in the week, to make sure I could actually do it. By golly, my little buddy and I rocked that 5k at just over 32 minutes.

Enter Saturday night. 10pm, me sitting in bed with a fever, freezing hands and feet, and my head over a trash can. I caught a yucky stomach flu bug and spent 5 hours Saturday night and Sunday morning throwing up. I weighed myself Sunday morning to find that just from throwing up, I had dropped 10lbs overnight! What an awesome diet plan. Get the flu, BAM! You’re skinny. Sunday was spent in bed, completely sore from the night’s events and trying to gain enough energy to walk up the stairs. Yesterday I woke up feeling SO much better, and so much better that I decided I wanted to run this (Tuesday) morning.

Never mind having thrown up like 15% of my body weight two days ago, I figured that since I had worked up to 4 miles last week that I could do the same, but outside. WHEN WILL I EVER LEARN?!?!?!

Today. Perhaps today was the day that I will learn. It was cool, perfect for a run, I had a great night’s sleep last night and was ready to pump some endorphins. I set out and 6 minutes in I immediately wanted to go home. I couldn’t get a hang of my breathing, my legs felt weak and exhausted, I didn’t think I had it in me. But I wanted to run 4 miles. I kept at it and considered turning off to a 3 mile route I know, but it was cluttered with construction workers and equipment so I continued along the planned 4 miles.

I couldn’t do it. I got lightheaded and couldn’t get over my feeling of weakness. I ran 2 miles and walked the last 2 home, contemplating my life and what the hell I thought I was doing trying to run 4 miles and not turning around when I knew it wasn’t feeling right, especially after having been so sick.

Now picture the lightbulb that appeared above my head during my walk of running shame this morning.

I had to admit to myself that I am really having to start at square one. Not like square one one, back when I first started running 3 years ago…but square one from my ‘old’ running self. Square one for Marathon Kelsey. I’m really going to be spending time evaluating my fitness and running goals, and I’ll post on that later.

I love running. Right now I can’t run 5, 8, 10, 16 miles like I used to. It’s not that I’ve lost my fitness, but my endurance has really taken a hit from sickness. I’ve been reminded of how hard it was to work for that endurance, and I think I’ve gained a true sense of respect for my body and what it is actually capable of.

Running is serving a different purpose in my life than it used to. I would joke that running was my boyfriend because I spent so much time doing it, and it was, but now I have a real boyfriend (who is way more amazing than running). There is so much more I am doing with my life at the moment than running. I have rekindled my desire to volunteer and serve other people, spend time with my family, study for school, and GASP, I actually take a breather and take time to watch one TV show a week. Life has a lot to give me right now, and unfortunately it is not fully in the means of running.

Running is still there. I love right now that I get to use it as some time for myself, a short 20-30 minute break to get a few miles in. Enough time to exercise, rejuvenate, and come back with a clear head without wreaking havoc on my body, scheduling out half of my day to spend running, or having so much time by myself that by the end, I consider myself insane.

The square one thing was hard to realize, but I’m going to work with it.

Marathoning: From the Other Side

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Putting on a marathon takes a lot of work. I am friends with the coordinator of the Kansas City Marathon and I understand the endless hours, days, and nights spent to ensure that a quality experience is had by all participants. Part of putting on an event of this capacity is having hands to carry out what are considered basic functions of a race– people are needed to pass out water to runners, help distribute race packets, award finishers their medals (so important!).

Having been on the participant side of marathons and half marathons, it is easy to overlook all of the work that goes into a race. You’re so focused on your training and in the zone of running that it’s easy to forget that it takes time and effort to even close the streets you’re running on!

This year since I couldn’t participate in the marathon, I wanted to pay it forward and volunteer at the marathon. I knew I wanted to help AT the race, but not necessarily be in the hub-bub of the start or finish line, or at a water station, but I still wanted to be able to cheer on and see runners. When I registered to volunteer, I chose to be a course monitor. These are the people that you see standing awkwardly at intersections of roads (often times most of these positions are fulfilled by police officers) along the race course making sure no traffic is going through.

I registered to be along the course between miles 20-22, because that (I believe) is the hardest part of the race and I love seeing the different reactions of people to the pain that comes along with having run 20 miles. If I was going to stand around for four hours, I wanted to be entertained at the least.

On race morning, I planned a route that I knew I could get to my location with ease, because so many of the roads were blocked. Little did I know while registering, that I was to be a course monitor probably at the most ghetto (literally) location along the course.

My location on the course is the place your parents tell you to never drive at under any circumstance even in the light of day.

The ladies that were monitoring there before me were so sweet, and I was under the impression that I would have a co-monitor…wrong. I was alone. I had volunteers a couple of blocks down on either side, but I was thinking I would be able to handle it.

I knew that I would have to redirect cars and whatnot, but trying to give directions to people who are either: half asleep, not from the area, drunk, or under the influence of an illegal substance made it a little more challenging. This is truly the nature of the neighborhood I was around.

On the other hand, some people were super sweet and gave me the nicest missing-toothed grins ever. In between redirecting cars and avoiding getting hit by angered drivers, I was able to cheer on a ton of runners which is so much fun. One of these days I want to find a race to solely spectate at because it’s so much fun.

Kelsey’s Tips for Course Monitoring:

  • Greet angered drivers with a smile–it’s harder for (some of) them to mean to someone who is very happy and cheery
  • Dress for the weather! I wore some Nike cold gear under my volunteer shirt and I was so warm and toasty, it was great!
  • Don’t bother taking a chair, you move around too much to even think about being able to sit down (unless you’re in an area with less traffic)
  • Be prepared to run after a car to stop them from driving through the course and have no shame in doing so. Don’t be afraid to yell if needed–you may have to!
  • Know what roads ARE open and be prepared to tell people how to get there. This will take their levels of anger and frustration down about 6 levels
  • If someone is rude to you or if you can’t say anything to make them happy, point them in the direction of the nearest police officers and suggest that perhaps the police officers will be more than happy to help them however needed (this shuts them up very quickly)
  • Get a friend to volunteer with you! It would have been fun to have someone pass the time with, or sometimes misery loves company (depending on how you look at it)
  • Make a funny sign, it really helps the runners

  • HAVE FUN! Cheer obnoxiously for the runners, chances are they won’t remember you anyways!

If you have never done it, I HIGHLY encourage you to volunteer for a race of some sort. It helps the race directors out more than you realize, it’s fun to give back to the community, and it’s free entertainment for a few hours!

A Race

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This post may be a little unusual for you…but it’s about RUNNING! Because you know…I can run again ;)

I have a little confession.

So while I was still recovering from mono, I went out on a few occasions just to (make sure I could still) run. These runs were no more than 3 miles and sadly, most of them left me crazy tired and longing for ridiculous amounts of sleep.

Last Wednesday…a week and a half ago…was my ‘clear to workout’ date and I celebrated with a 5 mile run! Some friends had asked me a few weeks prior if I was interested in doing a 5k last weekend, and between not being able to to run the Chicago or Kansas City Marathons…I would take any race I could get!

So last weekend marked my return to racing, and it was a blast. I forgot (and missed) what it was like to have a goal, to be motivated to finish a race, and enjoy every minute of it.

My friends and I Mustache Dashed our way through town!

I can’t remember what my finishing time was, but I do remember that my average pace was at 10:38/mile…and after having barely run for four months, I’ll take it!

Despite knowing that I will be having to lay some new foundation for my future running, I’m so glad to be able to do what I love again. I’m not planning on any long distance races for the rest of this year because I want to make sure I fully recover without the chance of relapsing, but have already started day dreaming about next year!