Gotta Run

I am not what scientists would refer to as "a runner." I often ran for exercise in college, but pretty much stopped after that (out of boredom and sore feet in equal parts). After Caleb came along I decided to give running another chance. It's one of the only aerobic activities I can do with him, and we already had a jogging stroller. It seemed like someone should actually do some jogging. So I did this program I found in a running magazine where you build up very slowly to running 3 miles. it worked well and I've continued to run 2-3 miles a couple of days a week. So I run, but not very far and not very fast. And though I occasionally enjoy the running itself, I mostly enjoy having been for a run.

Last night was dry (yay!) for our first practice. In this first practice we were timing ourselves and establishing our pace. So much for not obsessing about time! One thing that would've helped me would be to actually have read the manual that came with the cool stopwatch Wiley gave me for Christmas last year.

Another helpful thing would've been if our coach (who seems great) hadn't mixed up "lap" and "mile" when she was giving the instructions. (we're at a track, so a lap is 1/4 mile). I was among several people who misunderstood what to do. What we were supposed to do: run 1 mile at an "easy"' pace, 1 at a "moderate" pace, 1 at a "hard" pace. What I did: ran 1 lap at an easy pace, 1 at a moderate, 2 at a hard pace. I gave the person my time, and she told me to run at a mile at a moderate pace. It wasn't until I finished that mile that we figured out my mistake. So then I ran a 3rd "hard" mile, which ended up being the same overall time as my first "mixed-up" mile. Hopefully they can figure out what to do with me, skewed data and all.

So it wasn't the most awesome beginning. I'm looking forward to meeting more people and finding people at my pace to run with. 'Cause running in the dark around a track? Kinda boring. The good news is that I have an option of training there with another group on the weeks that my group trains at a track very far from my house.

The highlight of the evening for me (this shouldn't surprise anyone) was going out to pizza afterward with some people from my tribe. (Let me interrupt this already long post to explain the complicated hierarchy.)

Team in Training - about 200-300 people in the Puget Sound area, training for several different races (marathons, triathlons, a cross-country ski race).

Lavaman Team - about 55 people, all doing the Lavaman Triathlon
these are the people at the group practices. We also train sometimes with a team of (crazy) people doing a half-ironman triathlon in June. There is a captain for each of these teams (the Lavaman captain is Ande), and one coach (Cathy) for both teams. There is also an LLS/Team in Training staffperson (Megan) who seems to come to all of our practices (and maybe races with us too?).

Lanakila Team (or Tribe) - 11 people. we are one of several "tribes" within the Lavaman team. Lanakila is Hawaiian for "victory." The tribes are lead by mentors (mine are Joyce and Steve) who have done the race before and are there to help us with fundraising and generally cheer us on. They'll do the race too.

So, there's lots of support. And everyone is really nice and encouraging.

I got home late and had a bad night of sleep, most of which I blame on eating lots of pizza at 9:30PM. (I'd make a terrible European). But now I'm okay and headed to the gym for my strength training workout.

(And yes, this really is Janet doing this. An alien has not taken over my body. Yet.)