Team for Kids - gearing up!

Why I Run....

As Meghan and I were running in the Duke Forrest a few days ago, she mentioned how she fell in love with running while living in Germany because she would walk out her door and into the woods where she could run for hours. I immediately laughed and told her that not once in my life have I ever said, "I love running," or for that matter, "I fell in love with running". So the question is, if I don't love running, why do I run?.... Well, it's probably a complicated answer that requires you to get to know me a little.

TENNIS DAYS AND MY HATRED FOR RUNNING
From the time I was 10 years old until I graduated from college, I considered myself to be a "tennis player". I spent a lot of my childhood and college days practicing and competing in tennis tournaments or playing another college team. I loved training, having a goal, challenging myself, being part of a team and competing. While being a "tennis player" certainly requires running, this mostly consists of short sprints, agility drills and an occasional three mile run. I never enjoyed this part of training. In fact I hated this part. If you ask anyone I knew in college, they would all vouch for me about how much I hated running.....I hated it with a passion.

THE RUNNING JOURNEY BEGINS
So how do you go from hating running to wanting to run marathons? After college, I found exercising to be very mundane. I would run for 30 minutes or go to a 30 minute spin class and if I was feeling especially motivated I might do a few abs and lift some weights, but that would be it. Why else would I do more? I had no reason to be "in shape". My workout routines went on like this for about a year when my sister, Juliette, convinced me that she, my other sister (Angeline), and I should all run a marathon together. Both Juliette and Angeline enjoyed running and thought it would be a fun thing for us to do once in our lives. Somehow, I was convinced by this argument and in May 2004, I entered the NYC Marathon lottery. I rationalized that actually getting into the marathon would be a complete long shot, so there would be little chance that I would actually have to run the marathon. Knowing that entry into NYC via the lottery system is very difficult, I managed to convince my college friend, Erin, to sign up as well, just on the outside chance that I got in and neither of my sisters got in. I certainly did not want to run the NYC marathon by myself. Well, lo and behold neither of my sisters got into the marathon, but by some miracle Erin and I both did. Since I had convinced Erin to sign up, I felt obligated to run NYC with Erin. I figured I should just run one marathon once in my life. So my running journey began....

NYC MARATHON 2004
While Erin and I lived in different cities and ran very different speeds (she was much faster than me), we would call each other the day of a long run and commiserate about how our runs were: the aches and pains (tired muscles, chaffing, sunburn, etc.), the interesting people or lack of people who were also running, and how we felt. After the first few weeks of training, I began getting accustomed to running and could even identify days that I had a "good run" (I ran "fast" and effortlessly and totally forgotthat that I was running XX miles). Soon enough it was time for the real deal, the NYC Marathon. The NYC Marathon was an experience that no words could thoroughly describe. While I ran much slower than I had anticipated, it was my greatest sporting accomplishment up to that point. I was a decent collegiate tennis player, but I had always loved playing tennis. I had never loved running. I somehow was able to mentally push myself to keep running despite me wanting to quit on numerous occasions. I had somehow managed to run 26.2 miles, despite never running more than 5 miles prior to signing up for the marathon. I had succeeded in accomplishing my lofty goal.

POST NYC MARATHON
Immediately after the marathon, I swore that I would never do another one again. But after my whole body soreness slowly wore off, I began to appreciate the journey of running and training for a marathon (my college coach would be so proud). I loved having a goal and something to work towards. Most importantly, I loved pushing myself beyond my comfort level.

To this day, I still don't love running, but I will say that I don't hate it anymore. In fact there are some days that I enjoy it (but not everyday). I don't wake up every morning looking forward to my run, but at the end of the day, I am always glad that I did it. In the end, I guess what keeps me running is the journey.






- Natalie

I heart toe protectors!!!

Thus far, my main "training injury" has been a recurring blister on my second left toe. It sounds relatively minor, but it nearly took me down on our 14-mile training run last Friday (I''ll the story of the fabled 14-mile run for another day--it did, however, involve traversing water). I'd tried everything to get rid of this blister--moleskin, body glide, vaseline--but, nothing had worked. So, while at the store to buy yet another pair of running shoes, I asked for tips. It turns out that the answer to my blister problems could be found not at the fancy running store I'd been frequenting, but at Harris Teeter, CVS, and Rite Aid. Meet the toe protector:

For just $3.00, my toe problems are solved. I just ran 6 miles using this little guy and the feeling of knives stabbing my toe that I was previously dealing with is no more. 

I heart toe protectors!!

But, really - I feel great.

No really. I feel good.

And I want to tell people that I feel great. That I feel strong. And that I'm enjoying my training. But I've noticed that some people give me funny looks when I tell them this. I guess some think that this training for a marathon should be painful. That I should wake up dreading my track workout. That I should be exhausted. Of course there are still 75 days for that to happen, but for now -- I feel great.

meg

Training for a marathon during the Summer in the South is dangerous!

You might be thinking I'm referring to the heat (96 right now) or the humidity (lots). Or maybe you even read a previous post about a snake encounter.

Yes, those are all real Southern dangers. But yesterday we discovered yet another...

GNATS!

Check these guys out!

36 Gnats

3 x 1600m

That's one gnat every 133.33 meters.

It's a jungle down here.

Powered by...Too Tarts!

Really, we are literally powered by Too Tarts. Being part of Team for Kids means that we have to raise money to support the great work that Team for Kids is doing to engage low-income youth in running programs. Last week, Tar Heel Team for Kids received what we're calling our first corporate "sponsorship"--well, it's not officially a sponsorship, but saying so makes us sound like pro athletes. Anyway, Too Tarts, (www.tootarts.com) makes crazy kids candy--super sour, super sweet--that has no refined sugar and, and they're powering up Tar Heel Team for Kids. While we won't be able to wear these lovely green shirts running the NYC marathon, you might see us spraying some "Gween Appol" sour spray around mile 19 for a quick boost of energy!

track it up, yo.

I (Noel) want to be reflective about my running, and think about how I’ve changed as a runner over time, but mostly it comes down to two phases: Noel Before the Initiation of Track Workouts and Noel After Trackin’ it Up.

Before track workouts I ran because it allowed me the solo time to slowly clear my head and simply be present in my body – feet hitting the pavement, arms relaxed, abs slightly engaged, air coming in, air going out, ahhhh, gratitude practice, just this. I didn’t think to try and run as fast as I could – WHY would I do THAT? Everything changed when our group decided to get serious about training. I still have my solo slow fun runs, but thanks to Meghan our running group had to start “training” if we were to run a marathon. Haha! Psshhhttt. I can do that, no problem, was my first thought. That is, until Meghan was revving her little Honda engine outside my doorstep at 6:15 in the morning (i.e., pre-coffee) ready to drive our group to the UNC track. Noel Before the Initiation of Track Workouts had quickly become a thing of the past.

I like to observe my thoughts on the walk from the car to the track – the mental “psych-me-ups” is what makes me laugh. I can do this, I tell myself. Yeah right, it’s gonna suck, my cynical self says. Fire it up, my inner coach retorts. Forget about it, yells my slumbering self from the sidelines. You’re an athlete - DO IT – is the final phrase that ends the conversation.

Since I’m the resident track workout complainer, and being in DC away from my NC peeps, I skipped out on the last two Monday track workouts in favor of a “rest day.” (I did, however, strength and core train on Sundays, so my rest days were well deserved). Lucky for me though, my coworker Joel stepped up to the plate yesterday and decided to join me at the track for an after-work 15-minute warm-up, two 800m quick laps with a 90-second rest interval in-between (times six), and a cool-down of 10 minutes. We each had our ipod shuffles and warmed up no problem. Two sets of speed intervals in and Joel had fallen by the wayside in favor of doing pushups. I kept looking over to make sure he was working. He was. On the third set of speed intervals Joel’s brother Neil joined me on the track and put me to shame - talking about the Marine Corps marathon as I was huffing and puffing, running in the far right lane as I ran the inner circle, and sprinting around the track to clock in a six minute mile as I walked for a rest interval.

The really neat thing about track training with others is that they hold you up, no matter what. We each fell into different slots on the running continuum, yet we kept on going. If I was out there by myself last night, I would have stopped after three sets of intervals, but because of Joel and Neil I kept moving. Afterwards, I felt great. In fact, for me, one of the best parts of a track workout is not challenging myself and expanding my lungs and feeling my rubbery legs swiftly carry me the distance, it’s the celebratory teammate high-fives and overall rockstar feeling I get afterwards. Because of this, and because I want to be a better runner, I’ll continue to track it up, no matter what.