Nevada Day 8K

Hey everybody, I ran my first race in over five years and it was a great success!  I completed the 8K (5 miles) in 44:58 which was a 8:59 pace. I finished sixth place within my gender and age division. There were at least four hundred runners so I was really happy with my placement. My race pace was even faster than the pace I completed my training runs in.  I am really surprised I did that well for a couple of reasons.  First, we left the house later than we had anticipated and I got to the starting line within 5 minutes of the start.  I had to go to the bathroom since I had drank a bunch of water and I had no time to find a bathroom.  Running on a full bladder is not so comfortable.  Second, I managed to step on a solitary rock on the road and rolled my ankle in the first mile.  It hurt pretty bad and I had a split second to decide whether I was going to try to keep running or just turn around and head back to Eric and the boys.  I committed to finish and so that is what I did.  I feel that running is a huge mental sport as opposed to a physical one.  I had to run even though I felt like quitting. Thankfully my ankle is only uncomfortable when I put weight on it, no acute pain, and it is not swollen or bruised. I am going to keep a brace on it until it feels stronger. Third, there was a way bigger climb in the race than I had ever anticipated. I did not know the race route until the day before. My normal loop I run in my neighborhood has a 68 foot elevation increase.  The race had a 141 foot elevation increase.  I normally run with the boys in the jogging stroller and the hills near me are all dirt trails which are much too rocky for even my BOB.  Needless to say, that hill felt like the never ending climb but I was proud that I never stopped to walk.  I definitely have a lot of room for improvement but I am happy for how far I have come in the last five years.

You may be wondering about what Nevada Day actually is.  Nevada has a state holiday for the anniversary of the date that our state was admitted into the Union.  Nevada Day is actually on October 31st, but as you can imagine there was a lot of confusion with the increasing popularity of Halloween.  The legislature passed a law so that it would actually be observed the last Friday in October.  All the schools and state employees were off on Friday and the following day, Saturday, was filled with formal festivities such as the governor's pancake breakfast, the race, parade, hot air balloon launch, chili feed, etc.  The funny thing is that individual counties still decide what the appropriate date to trick or treat is due to Nevada Day actually being on the 31st. Carson City has designated the 30th for trick or treating and our county is sticking with the 31st.  It is all totally weird for this So Cal native.

It was a perfect day for a race.  It was obviously pretty chilly but it was so clear and the views of the Sierra Nevada and the capitol were amazing.  The last stretch of the race was down N. Carson Street a.k.a Main Street and the hot air balloon launch was happening right as we were running by.  I would definitely do this event again.

The boys were watching the hot air balloons go up during the race.

Don't they look thrilled to be out in the cold bright and early.

Baby Geneva fluttering one eye open to see if it was worth actually waking up for.

I finally saw the clock at the last 100 yards and sprinted my tail off so that I could make 45:00.

Sprinting...go, mama, go!

Hey everyone!  Check out the paparazzo behind me a.k.a. Uncle Adam

I did it!

Talking to Ally: "And there was this hill and it just kept going and going!"

Balloon launch

The bubbas checking out the balloons with Uncle Adam

Abraham was becoming a real grumpy bear by this time.

They were tired of the stroller so we let them run around.

More Abraham the grumpy bear.

Keeping Winston happy and distracted.

Super tired giggles.

Uncle Adam, the toddler whisperer.

Little Geneva needed her second breakfast.

This was best we could do for a family pic. The boys were spent.  Abraham is shoving a dried apple slice in his mouth.

The original idea was that we would all watch the parade together but the boys, at nearly twenty months, have still not outgrown their need for a morning nap.  We decided it was not prudent to try to wait for another half hour for the parade to start because the boys were close to the melt down stage.  Sure enough, they crashed within five minutes of being in the car.  Oh well, next year we can all stay and watch.  It will be a fun tradition to have.  I was really grateful that Adam, Ally and little Geneva were able to come and cheer me on.

  
Last night as I was falling asleep and praying silently to myself, I was thanking the Lord for the ability to run and that I had such a good race.  The words "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit" came into my head.  I remember singing a song with those words when I was a little kid in school and in Sunday School.  I had to look up the reference and saw it was a verse from Zechariah.

‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. 

Zechariah 4:6b

It was not about my ability or how hard I trained, it was simply God's grace in my life.  We can struggle as hard as we can to attain worldly success but ultimately it is the Lord's sovereignty in our life that is supreme.  I am grateful for how well I did in the race and I am grateful to my God for giving the strength to do it. 

My History of Running

Once upon a time, I was actually a pretty good runner.  Nothing amazing, mind you, but I learned that I could run distance and was good at keeping a pace.  Running was something I kind of fell into in college when I was really struggling with my weight.  I was on a few different anti-convulsants and seizure meds throughout college and one of the major side effects was that I put on some weight that I could not get off no matter how hard I tried.  I ran to just burn calories and try to maintain if not lose some weight.  The summer before my senior year I worked as a nanny and got into the habit of running every morning before I went to work.  I eventually had a base of four miles and was able to lose some weight. 

Once I graduated, I moved to a new town and rented a house with a childhood friend and some other Christian girls.  Two of those girls had serious running backgrounds, so it was easy to stay motivated when I saw my housemates running quite frequently.  I had a relapse with my seizure disorder and running became a major outlet for stress for me. I did not have control over my work or career situation, was back on seizure meds and felt like my life was completely adrift but running was something I could have control over.

I finally ran my first race in 2006, the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.  My ambition and desire was to run a full marathon.  I had seen numerous mailers for Team in Training and loved the idea of running to raise money for cancer research.  I had no idea how prophetic that desire would be when my own father was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer.  I had motivation like I never had before in running.  I was really proud of my training in that period and had a strong goal of finishing my marathon in under five hours.  Despite hitting the wall badly at mile 22 and having to finish most of the race from that point on walking, I finished the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon at 4:44:46 (chip time).  I ran the Camp Pendleton Mud Run again that summer.  My relationship with Eric was in the early stages and after that summer running was not as big of a priority.  I was also having health issues that I now know were linked to my adrenal insufficiency.  I did not have the energy or ability to be running.

2007 Mud Run- Snagged this from my friend's Facebook account.  I am the muddy girl with the hat on.

Then life continues to goes on. In spring of 2008, Eric and I were planning our wedding and I was involved in a hit and run accident.  I was rear ended and the person that hit me fled the scene. Fast forward about six months and I was a newlywed living in a new state and still trying to recover from the injuries from the car accident when I was rear ended again in a chain reaction during icy road conditions.  The first car fled the scene so it was considered another uninsured motorist/hit and run accident.  Fortunately there have not been anymore accidents but it took a long time with physical therapy and chiropractic care to even think about running again. At one point, my pain control/orthopedic doctor told me to seriously think about not being able to run again.  That was hard for me and I really had to surrender that to the Lord and give up my ambitions.  The ambition itself was not bad but it had a place in my heart where it meant more than it should have, hence it was an idol.

Getting ready to line up.  Power gel and my Camelbak.

I am laughing that I actually posed all proudly with my medal with a Coca-Cola sign.

In spring of 2010, I was slowly making progress and was starting on short runs of 2 miles.  Then we got pregnant with the twins that summer and no high impact exercise was allowed.  After that I was recovering from birth and all the moms reading this know what that can be like.  Once I was staying  home with the boys, I tried taking lots of walks and eventually got them loaded up into the jogging stroller. I was really out of shape and was able to run a mile at most without stopping for a walk break.  I used the MapMyRun app on my phone and kept just trying to plug away.  Then I finally hit the wall again in terms of my adrenal insufficiency.  I started taking hydrocortisone again and within a couple weeks I was already feeling so much better. I just kept chipping away at the running and was running 2.0-2.5 miles without stopping.  Mind you, this is with pushing about 50 lbs. of toddler plus the weight of the jogging stroller.  I am an incredibly goal oriented person. Without clear goals or deadlines, I can totally procrastinate or fall into lazy behavior.  I knew that if I was really going to improve with this running thing again that I was going to have to sign up for a race.  I also had an unofficial New Year's resolution that I was going to run a race before 2012 was over.  Originally I was aspiring to run a 5K back in June but then I started having the really bad fatigue and muscle pain and most of my summer was then trying to get healthy again.  I looked into local events and saw that the Nevada Day 8K was at the end of October.  That met the 2012 cut off that I was looking for.

All that to say that I am running the Nevada Day 8K on Saturday.  I am nervous but the good kind of nervous.  I am excited and I am looking forward to having my hubby there.  He has never seen me race so this is a big deal for me. Running is getting back to me, a part of me, that I have not prioritized or not been able to do because of health issues and investing myself into my family.  I want to set a good example for my kids and for my husband that health and fitness is important.  I cannot wait to update you all on how I do!  I have a time goal but I am telling myself to just be proud that I am able to run again.  It has been a long journey back and I am grateful for the lessons I have learned about life along the way.