A Running Joke: My Long Distance Relationship

Those of you who have known me for a very long time know that I have not always looked the way I do now. I used to have about 50 more pounds on me. You couldn't quite tell it was that much, because I can dress for my shape (unlike the unfortunate woman in white capri pants on the bus yesterday), but it was there.

Let's be perfectly honest, I was still pretty much the hottest thing to walk my corner (because extra weight means some extra jiggle where it counts, am I right?). I'd been getting family pressure to be slimmer since before I was 12, but I never really did anything about it until Fall of 2011, when I had my first 'big-girl' job out of school, I finally had some disposable income, some time to spare, and a company that reimbursed gym memberships. So I figured that working out every day would help fill out my schedule and help me meet new people in the area.

I became interested in how my body worked and what I can do to make it healthier, stronger, sexier, and function better. I did my research and learned about training techniques, recovery, muscular development, and calorie burning (fun fact: in an aggressive 20-minute interval run, you can burn more calories than in an hour-long jog). I also learned about the science of food, how digestion occurs, and what you can eat to change how you feel (do you know what food mimics the bodily response to D-chiro-inositol? I do! fun fact: buckwheat). I figured out what to eat and when so that I could have a bunch of energy all day long (without 4+ cups of coffee), recover from aggressive and intense workouts, and not be on a bunch of crazy supplements. A distinct part of my friend circle was just as health-conscious as I was, and we worked out together, hung out, ate grapes, and with some of them, I learned that I wasn't as unathletic as I'd always thought I was. I was encouraged to push my passion for running and fitness into my first half-marathon.

And I did it. But it sucked. So I figured I should keep doing these crazy events until it didn't suck as much, and I felt good doing them. My most recent, the Cleveland Marathon series' half-marathon went poorly, and I was left with the feeling that I could do better.

Because when you're in the kind of shape where a 10-mile run is an easy task, any other BS that gets thrown at you (psycho coworkers, jackass ex-boyfriend, student loans) seems easy. And I like carrying myself with a "Bitch, I can take you" attitude. 

So a bunch of pounds fell off, I've been looking pretty good.

However, my super-healthy lifestyle fell to pieces come holiday season 2012. I was stressed from leaving my job and the prospect of moving cross-country. I had a bunch of friends that wanted to go out and celebrate at my favorite bars and dinner spots in food-fabulous Cleveland. Following my resignation, I had a group of amazing former-coworkers that wanted to take me out to lunch and buy me beer to celebrate my transition, I had a traditional Jewish Christmas spent with my "extended" family to get my Chinese food fix, and I had just met this awesome guy that wanted to impress me by cooking me meals (some of which were much more successful than others). And then I moved to California (you all saw the food pics from the road trip... those were necessary). I met Rachel and Dave, who introduced me to sushi boats and the magic of Chavez Mexican food. I have a job that features 24/7 free snacks and 3 all-you-can-eat meals a day. I have an awesome aunt and grandmother that decided to send me 6 boxes of Passover candy. And... I finally have a group of friends that want to hang out, get drinks, and go out to dinner.

Only within the past month were my workouts rigidly regular, so naturally, a few of the pounds that were once jogged off found their way back on. And 8 pounds at my height is a lot.

I started thinking about things I can do to prevent gaining the full so-called 'Google 20', and I started thinking about that last half-marathon... how I feel I could have done better if I had trained differently, what time I can try for, how fun it was to be a part of the running community in Cleveland.

So I'm thinking that I'd like to do it again - another half marathon, California-style. I wanted to pick a trail-run, because it would be a new experience, something that couldn't be done in my previous running turf, and it would require the simultaneous weight-training that will help me reclaim last summer's four pack from my current two pack. I also wanted to pick something that was in early fall so that I can have lots of prep time and be less concerned with the possibility of another 90 degree race day. 

September 7th, 2013 - The Trail Hog Half Marathon. The event will be a bit smaller than a lot of the other races in the area (Wipro, Nike Women's...), it's only 20 minutes from my home (which means sleeping in on race day), and by doing a trail run instead of a flat course, I can work towards building up the endurance and balls to sign up for one of the Mt.Tamalpais trail races (biggest rock around).

You do a mountain run like that, and I can only imagine that you feel like a superhero. A superhero that won't be able to walk for like 3 days, but a superhero nonetheless. Maybe I can convince my cousin to bike beside me with a cattle prod in case I try to do something silly, like take a break. 

Here's what it boils down to:

Current events have me thinking about appreciating my life, my health, and the many many supportive people that have dragged me this far. 

I want to take charge of my new surroundings, conquer (symbolically and literally) this major uphill climb, and recapture the feeling of zen I get when fitness is the focus of my free time. 

Starting Sunday, I'm dropping down my weekly mileage and starting from scratch, building my weekly mileage from 7 miles/week (1 mile short runs, 5 mile long run) back up to 30 miles/week (8 mile short runs, 14 mile long run). I want to focus on building quality miles - properly strengthening my hip flexors, maintaining minimum-stress shoulder-elbow alignment while running, and slowly building back up the endurance such that an 8 mile run is still a 'short' run.

And if all of this time spent outdoors running about can help me build up a vitamin D surplus and maybe even a bit of a tan... I'm okay with it :-)