Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Me an Athlete, Are You Kidding?!?!?!

I recently joined Dailymile.com in order to have the widget on the side of this blog.  However, I love it.  Mostly because each time I go to log in and sync my runs with my running watch, it pulls up my profile.  You will never believe what appears under my picture.  Donna C., athlete.  Right now I have the web page pulled up on another tab and I just looked up and it says my name,  followed by the phrase "is an athlete."  Whoda thunk it?!?!  It also keeps up with how many miles I have run this year and it will send me an email and tell me how many miles I have covered this week.  When I am putting the time in this is like a huge "atta girl", when I am not it is another reminder that if I am going to eat a can of pringles in two sittings, that I should be putting in the miles.

In my last entry I was training for the 2011 Princess Half marathon.  I used the Jeff Galloway method to train, (sort of).  I did a dumb thing.  I did this alone.  I didn't have a training partner, a facebook group, or anyone other than my husband and kids to keep my hopes up.  I read the Jeff Galloway stuff online.  Late in the game, someone at a meeting for work mentioned the couch to 5K program and someone else said something about a Run for Jesus plan.  I just went out there by myself and ran and walked and ran and walked and ran and walked.  I was slow,  I had the feeling that if someone was watching, I would've looked like the astronauts in every movie, when they are walking out together to get on the spacecraft.

When people asked me if I was a runner, I said, NO, no , no.  I walk, run, lope---you know, whatever.  I made and still make every excuse.  When I tell people that I have been in half marathons or 5 K's, the next thing out of my mouth is inevitably, I was really slow, but I finished.  Who Cares!!!

I think because I am not shaped like the traditional Kenyon runner, and my mph speed proves out that I definitely do not have Kenyan DNA (the Boston Marathon has been Dominated by Kenyan Men and Women since the late Eighties), I cannot possibly be a runner.  It is strange.  I cook often, yet I don't compare myself to Julia Childs.  I drive every day, yet I don't compare myself to ____________(fill in the blank with your favorite NASCAR driver--I don't want to offend).  I think that I put too much pressure on myself to try to live up to something that no one expects-I expect me to be an elite athlete before I can wear that title, no one else ever did.  No one else ever cared about titles anyway.  I just didn't want to wear one I didn't earn.

I wish that I had found another athlete wannabe with whom to share the experience up to this point. Within the past year, I joined some facebook groups and regularly read some blogs of others who are trying to do it all and find balance in some areas of their lives.  Some of the folks I know and have known for a long time, others I have never met, never spoken to, yet we share a kindred spirit of some type.  The wonderful thing is that we encourage one another.  When you start from couch potato aspiring to athlete, you need some encouragement.

I recently got a text from a friend asking if I would run the Allstate Atlanta 1/2 marathon.  When we got the chance to talk, we have another friend and possibly three more that may join in.  None of us live near one another and only two of the five other than me, know each another at all.  However, we are all excited and the best part is the encouragement and the friendship.  The bling from this run is great! But I realized that my friends are beginning to see me as a runner.  They are putting me in the category as an athlete.  The computer has, maybe I need to stop making excuses and do it too.

8 comments:

  1. From one Non-Kenyan to another....you are an athlete! You run, you manage a home, you manage a careet, you gave birth TWO times.....in my opinion, you are an athlete!

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    1. Your encouragement is precious to me. I do run and did give birth, the managing part some days is doubtful--I think I may just be hanging on, but it is so worth the rush that I get from seeing it all, almost fall apart, then seeing it all come together.

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  2. Yes, THIS!!!!! This is all the stuff in my head too. I have gone into running stores, got the up and down look and the "You're a runner?!" (no, I didn't spend a penny in those places!!) but heck yeah, I am!!!! I have been reinventing myself as a runner lately, after 2 babies and surgery and injury, and this time around, I am enjoying it!! Here's to the atypical runners who keep the sport fun!!! :-)

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    1. Congratulations, I hereby dub thee, a runner, an athlete and more. I suffered two minor injuries in my first 18 months at it. You can make it. Just go at the right pace. Listen to your aches and pains and don't be too stubborn. I too, and so enjoying this incarnation of who I am becoming. I hope I grow up to be something wonderful! I am new to blogging, but I am hoping to do one good entry a week. If you like what you saw, "follow me"--that sounds so strange--and blog spot will notify you if I write something profound (by accident). BTW--it is wonderful to know that I am not the only one out here with this kind of "stuff in my head" thanks for that. D.

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  3. And just to add to the comments above - my goal is a 12min/mile! LOL. Infact I'd be happy with 14min/mile! I am a steady 16 min :( But oh well. Everyone's journey is different and I too, have crossed a finish line :) Keep going and have fun!

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    1. You will make it. I started out so slow. I can remember in college being able to run an 8 minute mile. Last week I set a personal record of 10:44 and had to work hard to not celebrate with ice cream. The joy IS in the journey and sharing our victories makes it that much more fun. I'm excited that you are a steady 16. It took me a while to be a steady anything...like several months...

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  4. I too did the same thing when I ran the Princess Half Marathon in 2011!!! Trained alone and only had my husband, family and friends as support. Wish I could have brought them all with me to the starting line! Maybe my confidence would have been at 100% lol. And I feel like I'm saying the wrong thing when I mention I run. No, I don't look like your typical runner. But if I'm making the effort, that's all I need..to say..YES, I am a runner. I just have to take more breaks than most people! :)

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    1. Isn't the starting line terrifying? Those breaks make all the difference some times, too-- a mile is still a mile--I have found that if I run my first mile without stopping, or if I go Galloway, I am faster with the breaks. That makes no sense-but I have tested it a couple of times. Those breaks may make us stronger :)

      Donna

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