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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

A Running Newbie


When I first moved to Vancouver I started doing intervals to train to run 5km. Then laziness kicked in and running went out the window. Now there's rain and a billion other excuses on why I don't run. Which really has to stop. In Hawaii, we found out we were in Maui the same time as the Maui Marathon! Also, the day before the marathon there was a 5K Maui Taco Run! After a week of a lot of eating and drinking (and no running) we woke up bright and early and did my first 5K run!

Well running might be an exaggeration. I probably ran the first km, third, and last km. The rest was lots of walking and sweating under the sun. The race was in Ka'anapali along a few nice hotels and golf courses. It felt good that I wasn't last and even got a compliment of being so fast for a walker ;) I sprinted the last 200m and got in at a time of 38min and felt woozy.

All in all it was exciting since I've never taken part in any organized runs before! It showed me how nutrition is not enough and that I really need to start exercising and running to reach my ideal weight and health. My time was pretty terrible but I guess it's a start. It's a love/hate relationship that I have with running. The thought of doing it and how my body hates it makes it tough to gather the will power to go out and do it. But once you're doing it, it's a great feeling. Running in the sun and seeing palm trees and clear water also is pretty awesome. I think my mind just remembers the day after and two days after where my body hurts all over. If I can just overcome this hump...I'd like to get a decent 5k time in a month. Any tips on how you made peace with running?

In other news, I finally broke under the 130lbs mark that I haven't been able to cross for 5 months! 128lbs to be exact. Let's see how the next 2 months pan out!

9 comments:

  1. Hey Thu,

    I am with you on the hating running bit. I have always hated running and generally (i.e. until this year) only ran once a year and that was the Terry Fox Run. However as a part of my healthy living, eating, and working out I started running along side my P90x. My trick to keeping motivated is really good music to run to, and my iPod sport pack from Nike which talks to me. It tells me when I have finished 1 km, how fast I'm going, etc. :) If you ever need a running buddy around the sea wall let me know!

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  2. yay so great for you!!!

    btw the maui photos look so pretty and you two looked like u were having an amazing time!
    dude 38 minutes is good!

    i'm a running newbie too!
    i keep doing 2 - 2.5 miles and very rarely 3 bc 1 i am lazy, 2 i get bored, 3. I am sick of all my running music. 4. i am having ITB problems
    Any suggestions for music?

    But AWESOME for you with that 5 k!
    hey, so, i'm scared of saying this bc it means committment, but do you want to train for the hawaiian half or disneyland half next year and go together?
    that gives us at least a solid 6-8 months.

    I don't have any tips, seeing as i do'nt really consider myself a runner, BUT!!
    i REALLY enjoy this writer called Marc Parent.

    He writes for runner's world (my friend has it) and he has these great articles about being a newbie runner.
    Empathy, motivation, funniness. it's great.
    He's like the training buddy you want to commiserate with.

    the only other motivation i get is the same one you have probably:
    that is, I work 45 - 80 year olds who take 10 -20 medicines daily and i see them in the hospital or in the ICU. All i can think is that i never ever want to get that sick so i better start treating my body with some respect seeing as i've trashed it all through med school.

    Anddd, i like michelle obama's way of seeing things, which is essentially: i can wake up at 4:30 am for other people (eg job, etc, obligations), why can't i wake up at 4:30 am for myself?

    well it's really awesome ur doing better.
    i'll see u soon hopefully!

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  3. Thanks Su!!

    Congrats on getting into such great shape!

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  4. haha Sonia, you know I'm scared of commitment.

    My hope for next summer is for a triathlon but training for that needs to start right about NOW. I'd like to do that somewhere with warm water so Hawaii or Florida sounds great.

    I completely agree with you and Michelle Obama! At least you're in cali where you can't really blame the weather for not running :)

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  5. It's amazing how you have achieved so much already. Really happy for you! I think the trick to get better time/endurance is to go with somebody who can run better than you... that way, you don't want to slow the other person down and you are less likely to stop.

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  6. Connie, that's true! Unless that person is way better than you and gets bored cuz you take too long :)

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  7. Hey Thu!!! Congrats! Keep up the good work! You're doing great :)

    This might sound like weird advice: my gr 8 music teacher was a long distance runner, and he said that the trick is to relax your forehead. I know.. sounds weird, but it has worked for me in the past when Jeff dragged me out to run. Soo... when the going gets tough, try thinking about relaxing your forehead! Also works when you can't fall asleep. How random. ;)

    But if you want a more scientific approach, Jeff used to follow the "Chi Running" methodology, and it's worked really well for him. I don't know all the ins & outs, but I'm sure you can look it up :)

    (haha.. i'm so random & jeff's so analytical. how appropriate!)

    Anyway, I'm sooo jealous about your Hawaii trip & your Mama's Fish House visit. MMMMmmmmmmmmm!!! So yummy. Let's do that again... MMMMmmmmmmmm :)

    -Karen

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  8. Oh.. and you know how you said "unless that person is way better than you and gets board cuz you take too long"? I hear you. That's so me & J!! ;)

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  9. Karen, thanks for the tips! It's sunny today so I'm going to force myself to go for a run and think about relaxing my forehead :)

    Thanks for recommending Mama's Fish house too it was definitely the food eating highlight of our trip!!!

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