Race to Deliver 4M

As is pretty par for this blog, a LOT has happened since my last post. Mostly really hard things. However one of the positive things that came out of the last 6 months of turmoil was my return to running. I committed to PT every week over the Summer and was really dedicated to my therapy routine at home to augment the work with the PT. I started out in June walking a TON. Like 80 miles for the month of June. Over the summer months I worked my way up to a walk-run and by the end of summer I could jog a steady 3 miles. 

I have continued to run, getting a bit faster (not that that is important at this point), and also increasing my mileage. I can handle a 6 mile run at this point. A lot of my runs are achieved through the school drop off routine with my boys. After I drop each of them at their own schools and get myself to school, I already have 3 miles for the day.

Over the summer I set a short term goal of racing a 5k by the end of the year, with a long (long) term goal of getting back into half marathon shape. Happily, I raced a 4M race in Central Park this morning. It felt great to be back running in my most favorite place to run in the whole world. The weather was great, I had my boys and hubs cheering me on, and I finished strong with a sub-9 pace (8:48 to be exact). I am grateful to be on the road to recovery, literally and figuratively. 

Dreary day indoors turned into a Sunny commute

The hubs took my older son to school this morning, so my younger son and I stayed home all morning. The day was cool and rainy, so a good day to catch up on house work and building magnatile towers! For the pick up routine, I walked 3 miles, 1 of which was running. Everything is still all good, but after a week of increasing my walking/running my body is tired. I have plenty of school work to keep me seated all weekend :/...

Short Hand

Until my running picks up, my posts are turning into short hand. I walked 4.4 mi today, but decided not to run any. Back and foot are still feeling pretty good. 

The Walking is Working

Today I again did the majority if my commuting by foot and walked 6.75 miles, with about a mile run in between. The slight bit of running has felt pretty good on my back and foot - I am keeping it slow and steady.

False Start

So the New Years Day run was, predictably, a false start. My back was just not ready for running, even half a mile. I have continued PT for my back and have seen significant improvement. I am not back to 100%, but with the emergence of Spring I am feeling the itch to get running (slowly!). 

My kids were on Spring  break last week, and before that my mom was in town for a couple of weeks helping me out, so I have had a lot of good rest time for my back. I have also been doing my prescribed stretches, which helps enormously.

Living Uptown for a year now, I indescribably LOATHE hauling my kids in and out the subway. It is the WORST. It's been a long Winter of bumping the stroller up and down the stairs, and commuting an average of 4 hours per school day from Uptown. Enough is enough. With the Spring weather and my back improving, I decided after Spring break that I would be doing a whole lot more of my commuting by foot. Sadly, because MTA is so unreliable, I only have to leave our apartment 10-20 min earlier than if I take the subway or bus. 

Today, I did take the subway down for my older son's drop off, but I walked up to my younger son's school drop off, then walked down and back to a dentist appointment. After taking a quick ride home, I walked 2.5 miles (with about a mile job in there) back for school pick up, then walked up to the Columbia campus to play with the kiddos. I walked 9 miles today, including the 1 mile run! My back held out and I felt great to have accomplished some much needed exercise, 16 months after my initial injury!  

From Scratch

Today I am starting from nothing. I have zero fitness, not to mention about eight extra pounds. I have not run consistently in about 14 months. My foot is completely healed, and while I am still in PT for my back, I think if I start slow enough I can begin building up my running again. Not running, or racing, for this long is killing me, so here I am on the first day of the New Year (trite, isn't it?) ready to start from scratch. 

This afternoon, the hubs and I took the two boys out to the track across the street. I ran exactly TWO LAPS. That's it. I walked one lap afterwards, stretched a bit, and walked back home. It felt slow, awkward even, and it was really cold and windy. So not exactly ideal for starting back running, but it is a start. I plan to take it really slow. The .50 mile today, maybe another in a day or two, etc. Stay tuned. 

Aaaaaand I'm back (sort of)

So it's been over two years since my last post. A lot can happen in two years. Let me offer the briefest recap I can:

- Two years ago I was living in Colorado and learning to run with my boys while figuring out life in a totally new environment

- In March 2013 I had a mental breakdown and began seeing two therapists, one of which put me on anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication

- In April 2013 I began running more regularly when I found a running partner who also has 2 young boys

- I quasi-trained for the Bolder Boulder 10K, which I completed in May 2013 at just over an hour (abysmal performance). There is a good reason this race is called the "bolder" boulder, it's frickin' hard. Also little did I know this would be my last race for a very long time

- Over the summer of 2013 I ran a lot with my running partner and started to get back into shape - I considered training for a half in the Fall

- At the end of July 2013 my running partner moved away - SAD - but I managed to keep my weekly mileage at about 15 and slowly began to lower my pace. Also, my lingering issues with a late diagnosed diastisis recti were finally getting resolved. 

- In August 2013 I started a rigorous, 13 credit hour semester in an attempt to the finish off the prerequisites for a career change/graduate degree - Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at Columbia University (Teachers College). At this time, the hubs and I also had decided to move back East to be near family, particularly since his dad was battling cancer and would be receiving treatments in NYC every two weeks, giving us and our kiddos a chance to see him more (after spending a significant amount of time and money trekking across the country to make visits); we arranged to extend our lease by 6 months to accommodate a Feb 1 move back East. 

- In November 2013 I broke my foot (badly, in two places) playing a game of blob tag with our junior high youth group at church. I had surgery to put a plate and 5 screws in my right 5th metatarsal. I was told I would have an 8 week recovery and be back to running shortly into the New Year

- The breaking of my foot and everything in my life that fell apart as a result of it led me into a deep depression - my psychiatrist diagnosed me as "passively suicidal" 

- I was in a wheelchair for two weeks and on crutches until mid-January

- On top of everything else, the Christmas season brought the passing of my father-in-law and a lot of other family drama, and my husband's job, the reason we moved to CO, was clearly not working (and had not been for a while)

- In January 2014, my husband resigned from his job (after taking medical leave to take care of me and the boys while I was in a wheel chair) and we prepared to move back to New York City when our lease was up in February 2014.

- On February 1st we moved our family back across the country, in an arctic tundra, back to New York. My foot was technically healed, but I was still wearing the orthopedic boot and in a lot of pain 

- Back in the city we found a temporary, one-bedroom apartment on airBnB to live for a couple of months while we looked for a new apartment and while my husband looked for a job - meanwhile I had to find a new orthopedic surgeon because my foot hurt so much I still could not wear regular shoes

- In March 2014 my back went out, after months in the orthopedic boot which caused an altered gait and a general unevenness that resulted in a pretty bad misalignment of my hips as well as a sprain of my sacro-iliac joint (massive lower back pain in other words) 

- In April 2014 we moved into another apartment, but it was still a sublease, for one year, so we will have to move again. Also I had food poisoning for the first 8 days we lived here 

- In May 2014 I had a second surgery on my foot to remove the hardware that was coming out of the bone and causing a lot of pain. I walked with a cane for about 4 weeks 

- In July 2014 I finally was able to wear (most) regular shoes and began PT on my foot. My back continued to hurt and I saw the chiropractor for it regularly

- The Summer of 2014 also brought a new walking partner, still not running but able to walk a few miles to the playground and back

- In September 2014 I began my first semester at Columbia in my new graduate program

- In October 2014 I tried to go on my first run in nearly a year, about 2.5 miles at a 10+ min/mi pace. I paid dearly for this mistake. My back went out so badly I could not walk and my husband had to take a day off from work to care for our kids and take me to the doctor

- In November 2014 I decided I would not try to run anymore this year, resting and re-cooperating my back until the New Year. November 17, the one year anniversary of the initial break, was a hard day for me. I have never gone this long in my life (since I started running) without running, even during and after pregnancy with both kiddos

- In December 2014 I decided to go to a physical therapist for my back, which still consistently bothers me. For three weeks I went twice a week getting adjustments, physical therapy, injections, muscle relaxers and electro-stimulation therapy.

- Today, I started running again. 

The End ... and The Beginning. 

Surprising 4+ Today

Determined to not only get on a regular running schedule but also resolve to use the rec center membership we're paying for and the get the boys and I OUT of the house, I decided to just run to the rec center! It's pretty close, right? So I loaded up the boys and set out, dropped the boys at the childcare upon arrival, ran an easy 2 miles on the treadmill (well it didn't really feel that easy, but it was a 10:30/mi pace so whatev), then picked up the boys and ran home. Wow, I was really tired, I mean I know pushing a 20# stroller with 60+ # of kids in it is hard work but it really was taxing. I didn't realize the rec center was 1 1/4 miles away until I got home and mapped it out, so in total I ran 4.5 miles! Nice. 

Bad Mood Yields Good Run

I was in a foul mood this afternoon for a multitude of reasons, and not wanting to for us all to be miserable for the rest of the afternoon my husband suggested that we get outside. Fine. I'll go. But I am getting something out of it, we're running (still begrudgingly though). So we set off with no particular destination and before we knew it we were in the little downtown area in our neighborhood. We stopped and let the kids look at the Christmas tree and let the 3 year old walk around a bit. It was getting close to dinner time too, so I suggested we run home and try this new little Italian place near our home. Honestly I was not up for the dinner time struggle of getting our three year old to eat his dinner that is a daily occurrence in our house. So off we went to Mici. It was such a pleasant time, I was really surprised. The family owned place had delicious food, reasonable prices, a great atmosphere for kids, and the boys loved the food ad both ate good dinners. Score! It totally turned our day around, and I got about 2.7 miles in!

Swim Class

Attempted the whole two birds, one stone thing this morning by running my kids to swim class, one in the jogger one on his bike. It was a DISASTER. I got maybe 2 miles of running/walking/stopping. Never again :(

Lame Two Miler

The hubs asked if I wanted to go out on a quick run with the boys this evening. Quick indeed, I just was not feeling it. So after 2 miles we called it. Oh well, 2 miles is 2 miles I guess. 

8,400 ... feet that is

Our family went on a church retreat this weekend to Estes Park, a beautiful area here in Colorado. Most of our weekend was filled with meetings and community activities, but the hubs and I were able to steal away one late afternoon and get a run in together. Wow, running at altitude is no joke. I have just acclimated myself to Denver's elevation, just over 5,000 ft, so I thought I would be okay up here in Estes Park (elev. 8,400!). Nope. Dead wrong. It was icy cold, the wind was whipping and I seriously thought I was having a heart attack. I kept asking my husband, who is much more acquainted with the effects of altitude running, if he was sure my chest was supposed to hurt this much. "Really, it feels like a knife is protruding out of my chest while simultaneously I can't breath?". "Yes (chuckle, chuckle)." All righty then.

I was able to complete right at 3 miles. I think I asked the hubs to check his Garmin every few minutes to see if we'd reached 3 miles. Thank goodness for technology, haha. I won't be running at this altitude with any regularity, but I am really glad I did it!

+2.4

Well, I in fact did go back to the rec center this afternoon for an additional 2.4 miles .... 1.8 of that running and the remainder at a fast walking clip. A total of 4.8 miles, with 4.2 of that straight up running. Yea, that's right. 

Two Point Four

I thought writing out my (again) weak mileage would make me feel better somehow. It didn't. Running 2.4 miles no matter how you write it down is still only running 2.4 miles. I feel like a broken record, I had to squeeze in another run at the rec center before my 11 month old went down for his morning nap. I shouldn't be complaining, I am running after all. Perhaps I will go back to the rec center this afternoon and do it again (gasp!) for a total of 4-5 miles for the day!  

2.25

Wow, I upped my run length to a total of 2.25 miles today. Watch out. Again, limited time to squeeze in a run between activities today. Each time I'm running, though, I'm running anywhere from 22-25 minutes. So even though my actual mileage is abysmal, I am achieving a good chunk of cardio time. 

2.0

Just a quick 2 miles on the treadmill at the rec center this morning, squeezed between nap time and lunch. I take what I can get ... still running at a 10+ min/mi pace. 

City Park

I ran for the first time in City Park today after I dropped my son off at preschool. I am determined to get back into running shape, and although I only ran 1.5 miles it is better than nothing. As I indicated from yesterday's run, I am months away from being back in racing shape and further behind pace wise than I anticipated :/. Granted, I was pushing my 11 month old in the jogger, but I frequently trained for the 2010 NYC marathon pushing my then 18 month old in the jogger in NYC's Central Park. 

Which brings me to my next point. I miss Central Park! It's not that I didn't think I would miss it, or even that I took it for granted when I lived ON Central Park West. But rather I am quickly reminded that it is the only place of its kind in the world ... ok well the US at least. I did more running living in NYC than I ever have in my entire life. And I have been a runner since the age of 13. 

So what does this mean for my running now that I am in Denver? It means I will have to make a more deliberate effort to lace up my shoes, it means that I will have to be okay with constantly dodging aggressive geese and mounds of goose poop (well in City Park at least), and it means I will have to let Central Park go and do my best to appreciate what running opportunities I do have here in Colorado. 

But I don't have to stop missing Central Park. 

Rec Center

Ok. So I am not a gym person. I don't like treadmills or elliptical machines, or working out amid inappropriately dressed individuals. Yes, I realize this is a bit of a stereotype, but I've been in enough gym settings to know that there is a good reason for this stereotype. Buuuuuuuut, I joined the local rec center here in Denver today. In fact our whole family joined, which means the hubs and I can have access to work out in the really cold months ahead, and childcare is free in a really nice, well-curated kid area, and we may even consider working out together as a date. Yes, we are "those" people. 

So after 30 minutes of paper work, we dropped the boys off in the childcare area and headed for the cardio room. It was close to dinner time, so we knew we just had about 30 minutes to work out. We both hit the treadmills. I had this preconceived notion that I would run about 3 miles in my 30 minutes, and I was not going to think about how far my rock star hubby would run in that same amount of time. Why 3 miles? Well, as you may know a 10 min/mile pace will yield 3 miles in exactly 30 minutes. And my "out of shape" pace is a 10 min/mile. Except when it's not and really my current pace is about an ELEVEN MINUTE MILE. Arg.

I have a lot more work to do than I anticipated before being back in shape. I am also carrying around about 10 pounds of baby weight. So. Deflating. 

I ran 2.6 miles total in my 30 minutes, and since a treadmill offers the luxury of being very specific with pace, I played around a bit going as slow as 12:34/mile and as fast ("fast", haha) as 9:14/mile. Sadly it was a hard workout for me. 

This is it, man, I am getting back into running shape. Altitude (and baby weight) and all! 

On the Road Again

Well, just over four weeks after the boys and I landed in Colorado, I went for a run today. I have been putting off running for a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to unpacking, organizing, acclimating the higher altitude, caring for the boys solo more than I am accustomed to, and sheer exhaustion. 

But today was the day! I have been feeling the itch to run more and more as the days have passed here, and after I consumed my fair share of cake batter and icing from my husband's first-day-of-school-treat (paired with a pretty terrible afternoon with the boys where the thought of staying indoors with them until he got home was unbearable), I decided that I needed to just get out there and run. 

My plan was to load the boys into the stroller, run up to (Denver's) Central Park and let the boys play at a playground, then come home just before dinner. As luck would have it, hubby was not able to join his cross country team for practice after school so shortly after the boys and I left the house, he joined us for a run too! I guess it's kind of poetic that my last run in NYC was in Central Park with my husband and the boys, and so was my first run here in Colorado :)

I'm not going to lie, I was huffing and puffing. Besides not running for the past month or so, my body is in no shape to be running at 5,000+ feet! I know it will take a long while before I am back on pace running here in Colorado, but I hope today's run was just the beginning of many, many more runs that I will do as we raise our family in this amazing outdoors-mecca!

A Little Off Script

We wanted to take advantage of free kayaking on the Hudson River before we left NYC, so that's exactly what we did this afternoon, with some friends. 

We decided to have a picnic afterwards and let the kids play for a bit along the Hudson River Greenway, one of my favorite places to run. Particularly when I was training for the NY marathon, I ran many of my training runs along the Hudson. I had stashed my running clothes in a bag as a change of clothes in case I decided to go kayaking too, so then I thought 'hey, why don't I go for one last run down the Hudson Greenway?' Never known to say no to a running opportunity, my husband (sans running clothes) ran with me, pushing the boys and our overloaded stroller, all the way down to Chelsea. It was right in the middle of the hot afternoon sun and we were completely unprepared but I really enjoyed the views one last time along the way...

If I had to guess, we ran about 2 miles. Indeed it was a little off script, but well worth it.