Longest run yet...

Well, the training plan called for a 6 mile long run yesterday but I decided to do the longest run ever in 7 years today, Sunday, December 18.

I kept looking at the weather updates online throughout the night and wondering if I'll be able to lace up my running shoes and hit the pavement.  I know there were many thoughts going through my mind:

1. Why in the world did I decide to run a half marathon?
2. I'm crazy to be running in this weather?
3. Am I trying to prove something?
4. I'll probably jsut go to the gym tomorrow
5. Why am I doing this again?

Finally, I picked a book from a stack next to my bed and waalaah, "The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron, opened to the page I left off ....

"Through the process of practicing the mindfulness-awareness technique on a regular basis we can no longer hide from ourselves.  We clearly see the barriers we set up to shield us from naked experience.  Although we still associate the walls we've erected with safety and comfort, we also begin to feel them as a restriction.  This claustrophobic situation is important for a warrior.  It makes the beginning of longing for an alternative to our small, familiar world.  We begin to look for ventilation.  We want to dissolve the barriers between ourselves and others."  

The question was, "Who am I without these thoughts?"

So with a clearer mind and forgetting the places the scare me, I fell asleep.  To wake up to light snow.  My mind went back to those scary places that I realized were just pure silly thoughts... ice. snow. cold. cars. fumes. people.    These are all wonderful things in our environment, except for maybe cars and fumes.. haha

So the next question I asked was,  6 miles on the dreadmill or take it outside.  My good brother, Hank, reminded me of the amount of electricity I would use if I went to the gym.  Good Job Hank!!  I have to walk the talk!  Conserve, conserve, conserve.

I laced up the running shoes, layered my clothing, grabbed my beanie and gloves and headed out.  It was such a wonderful feeling knowing that the snow, the ice, the cold was a renewal process for our environment.  The runoff from the peaks will break bountiful harvest to our farms.  The places that scare me became the places I love.  With that in mind, I ran, slowly, 3 miles out and 3 miles back.  My thoughts were much clearer about what convenience in our society means.  How its changed our world, our children's world, yet not realizing that we have created a world that our children will need to fix one day.  We are on the movement to help change this convenience, bringing our children back to the land back to the soil back to what adaptation really means.  I"m hopeful and excited to be on this path that is scary but we know that the barriers are walls that can come down with communication amongst everyone.  

The question remains, if I ran 6 miles on a treadmill, how much electricity would I have burned?  how much coal would be used for this convenience?  How much rubber trees torn down to make the rubber belt that goes around and around while we run in place on this machine?  We say we do it for our health but really how much more of an impact has it had on someone else's environment?

So much to think about when running!  Yet so much free space to just be, also!

Until next time,

Run Claudia Run

The fear of...

This morning, I awoke to silence... then the sputter of the heater and I was wrapped like a burrito in my bed.  The warmth of my down comforter, because I do not want the heater to run all night, due to the high price of natural gas, yet, not really knowing the price, just that its very high.  Not only that, but the electricity.  How much coal is being mined for my heater to go off, my night sensor to go off, my cell phone to be recharged at night, and for my kid to play her radio all night long?  How much longer do I stay snuggled in my bed?

I remembered the days, my father would stand over us with a cup of water to get us out of bed and to run outside in the cold without our shoes?  This is considered abuse today but those days we were made to be tough, disciplined and to know that the day doesn't wait for us.

My uncle once said, "water is life!  that is why your father dumped a cup of water on you when you were lazy to get out of bed."  Oh, how true it all sounds today as I am older with two children that sleep until noon sometimes.

So, I jumped out of bed, washed my face and dressed in layers as I checked the temps outside, a cool 20 degrees!  I have never trained for a race in the winter months, I hibernated until March so again, this challenge is a lesson on discipline and my own fears of winter running.

As I walked outside, I noticed my body hasn't caught up to my training yet.  My age is my excuse but I have to get into a new state of mind.  So, I took deep breaths and visualized my run and forgot about how far behind my body was.  I learned to meditate while I lived in Santa Fe for one year, it was the best running year of my life.  Focusing on my breaths, then my legs, arms, stomach, back, shoulders and head, they are aligned and off I go.

My running route is right outside my home, today was a long run of 6 miles according to my training plan, but due to limited running this week, I decided to put in 3 miles and do the 6 miles tomorrow.   The route is there and back, 1.5miles.. the trail is downhill and the thought of running uphill on the way back begin to bother me.  But, I change focus, started thinking about how to engage the faith based groups into our Green movement.   I was thinking, no matter, what beliefs we have, we all honor the creation of our Mother Earth.  Why then do I feel there is a divide?  I wonder how others feel about this topic.  All is that all religion have the same basic understanding of taking care of our environment otherwise, we have much to be judged by.  Will my grandkids and their grandkids have the same opportunity in being able to live on the land or will it be desecrated even more for our greediness of selling our natural resources?

While thinking this, I was already at the turning point of my run and I begin to feel that knot in my tummy, knowing I'll be running uphill against a headwind.  Quickly changing focus, this was a challenge to overcome.. I started chanting, the wind is my friend, the hills are my friends and I'm going to do this.  I passed a couple people walking, with quick steps, probably to keep warm, and to make it to the bus stop on time, assuming they were headed for work somewhere.   The chilly breeze on my face working its way under my knitted cap was quickly freezing up the tiny amount of confidence I had.. I turned into meditation mode again.. focus on the breath, focus on the breath, from the toes, to the knees, to the hips, to the tummy, arms and back and back to the head.  I noticed I was smiling, YES, I was enjoying it.

I made it home, in time to head out to a meeting with the North Leupp Family Farm.  My home away from home, the place that makes me feel so much closer to Mother Earth.  The food that sustains me all year and I look forward to planting season.  The ups and downs of farming but its the place where our hearts belong.  The place our ancestors planted that seed of sustainability.  The place that teaches us we don't need to depend on fast food.  The place that can bring our young and old together to learn from each other.  I can't wait!

The money raised will help in establishing some farmers markets and helping to create local jobs for our children.  This is my intention of running of this half marathon, for the children and their children.

Thank you for your support!

Run Claudia Run

Week 1

Well, 11 days have passed with some very good moisture of snow that hit the running spots and I resorted to running on the dreaded treadmill or running in circles where 15 laps = 1 mile..  This is the challenge of winter running.

I dreadmilled one day for 2 miles and it was the most painful of running that I have done in a long time.  My hip flexors were in pain and my feet tend to get numb after 2 miles.  My kid, Amber, became my gym buddy as she showed me different exercises to strengthen my arms, back and tummy.  She kept telling me the exercise machines are not good for me, they will injure me more than free weights!  O, how they grow up fast!!  But I love her company!

Here is my training plan!!

Sedona Half-Marathon

Training Schedule

February 4, 2012

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	11/28	11/29	11/30	12/1	12/2	12/3	12/4
	Rest	2.5 m run	2.5 m run	2.5 m run	Rest	4	cross
2	12/5	12/6	12/7	12/8	12/9	12/10	12/11
	Rest	2.5 m run	3 m run	3 m run	Rest	5	cross
3	12/12	12/13	12/14	12/15	12/16	12/17	12/18
	Rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	Rest	6	cross
4	12/19	12/20	12/21	12/22	12/23	12/24	12/25
	Rest	3 m run	3 m run	3 m run	Rest	7	cross
5	12/26	12/27	12/28	12/29	12/30	12/31	1/1
	Rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	Rest	5	cross
6	1/2	1/3	1/4	1/5	1/6	1/7	1/8
	Rest	3 m run	4 m run	3 m run	Rest	9	cross
7	1/9	1/10	1/11	1/12	1/13	1/14	1/15
	Rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	cross	9
8	1/16	1/17	1/18	1/19	1/20	1/21	1/22
	Rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	10	cross
9	1/23	1/24	1/25	1/26	1/27	1/28	1/29
	Rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	11	cross
10	1/30	1/31	2/1	2/2	2/3	2/4
	Rest	3 m run	4 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Marathon

Saturday, 12/10/11, my longest run in 7 yrs!  Woohoo!  5 miles on hard packed snow.  This calls for ice grips for my shoes.  A couple of times, I almost had my legs give out from under me.  I think, this was definitely a slow slow 5 mile run and I was so proud to be done.  Yes, I was in pain in the evening but I know this comes with training.  I'm so happy to have my Amber as my personal masseuse as well, she worked some knots out of my back.  This has made me mindful of my posture again.  Back to meditation mode as well.

As I ran, I thought of my goals for educating our communities in practicing sustainably.  I continue to teach myself to walk the talk especially when I go to the grocery store and I forget my "Green" shopping bags.  And they don't have paper bags!  I make the bagger bag as much as they can in one plastic bag so I don't come out with too many plastic bags.

How much of our communities understand what it takes to make one plastic bag? how much oil is used? how much water is used?  to produce this product that has become a sore eye on our landscape!


Run Claudia Run

In the beginning ....

Once upon a time, there was this little tiny person sitting on my left shoulder whispering, "run claudia run," while swinging a notched belt of all the previous races I've ran.  I sat in my closet digging through the box containing race bibs with my times written on them and photos galore of runchatter friends that I've met at some of these races.

Wow!  I thought! an inkling of inspiration brought a smile to my face.  I "think" I can still do it.

Reality hits!  That sinking feeling of almost dispare.  Its been 7 years since I've run anything more than 4 miles.  My motivation has no fire but I go back to the website for the Sedona Marathon.  I did this for 3 days trying to figure out whether I should do it.  And why I wanted to do it.

The biggest reason for my taking the plunge was the little person on my left shoulder beginning to sing "Ti' (Yeego) Green, Ti' Yeego Green."  In Navajo, Go strongly Green.

This is the beginning of training for the Sedona Half Marathon ... I did start a training plan, a light running plan that will get me to past the finish line.  My best times have been under 2 hrs, however, for this race, I expect a little over 2 hrs.  I do plan to finish strong.

In my future blogs, I'll talk more about our green plan and my running plan, how they both interrelate and believe me, they do.  I'm out of breath now.  Later..

Run Claudia Run