Making peace with uncomfortable

I have run 2 5Ks back to back the last two weekends.  Both the Foot Rx 5k and Crumley House 5k were wonderfully organized and full of schwag!

Foot Rx always has yummy treats like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chocolate peanut butter balls.  Nom nom!  Then, if that isn't enough, they have THE best door prizes around.  (Not that I won any...but still.)  They give away tons of Foot Rx gift certificates and merchandise.  They are the great supporters of the running community here in Johnson City. 

Then, Crumley House served a post-race pancake breakfast for everyone who participated complete with bacon and pastries.  Our race packets included a performance shirt made by the clients of The Crumley House, hand lotion, chapstick, and a bag full of coupons.  It was a great cause to support which brought in a great crowd for an inaugural event.  The Crumley House is a brain injury rehabilitation clinic and aptly called its race "Joggin for the Noggin".

They were both on pretty tough courses so I struggled through them.  As one does when racing.  Have I mentioned how much I dislike 5Ks?  Not that I dislike them, per se, more that I don't like being uncomfortable.  To be "competitive"... or at least competitive with yourself for a personal record one must push her limits.  On the quest for a personal best I find my lungs burning, breath short, stomach upset, and legs begging me to stop pushing so hard.  This is not a good feeling.  But, yet, I still do it to myself because no matter how much it hurts...it still feels good.  Many of you runners I am sure will agree with me on this one.  We may hate every loving minute of it but we will still do it again and again and again.

As I said in an earlier post, one of my goals for 2012 is to get faster.  Therefore, I have incorporated more speedwork into my week.  Right now I am doing a lot of 400 and 800 intervals because I have just been doing 5Ks.  I want to add back in the mile repeats because they teach me to reach a level of sacrifice and stay there.  That's my downfall in the 5K.  I can get it there but I have trouble keeping it.  I give up some times but I really just don't have it others.  I have to learn to live with that feeling for 24 minutes because that is my goal 5K for now.  I need to get in the 24s and I will.  I was only 27 seconds away at Joggin for the Noggin which was a new PR for me.  Only by a few seconds, but every second counts, especially on this course.  I'll take it.  So, if you pass me when I am running a race, yell at me.  I need it.

On another note, my mom has signed up for a 5K program and I couldn't be prouder.  My dad ran a 5K with me last year for my birthday and he was awesome!  I'm so excited because I see a family 5K in the future!  ;)  I love sharing my love of running!!

Dad and I before Blue Plum 5K

Happy Running All!               

Cleaning accomplished

Time to recap the detox.  It is over, for you inquiring minds.  I did it for 10 days.  Three days of the elimination diet and one week of the cleanse.  It is meant to be a three-week cleanse but the good doctor says it's fine if you only do one week for your first time. 

These are some things I learned from the cleanse:

• I CAN survive without fast food. (This was a problem for me before.)
• Smoothies are a yummy breakfast that can be packed with antioxidants, protein, and fiber!  (The hand blender my parents bought me for Christmas was just perfect for these.  Thanks Mom and Dad!!)
• I can actually cook and learned to love my kitchen through my experiments.
• Taking time to prepare my food makes me more mindful of what I am putting into my body.
• To be in the present with all things, not just food.

These are all valuable lessons that I will carry with me as I go about my normal life post-cleanse.  People think I am healthy because I run.  When it came to food, that was so not the case.  I am excited now to be able to eat healthier and therefore live life feeling better, which was the main reason I did the detox.  I knew that I had put nothing but crap into my body for some time now.  It was time to remove that from all of my systems...because, you see, they all work together.  A great example of teamwork.  I learned so much about the human body from this book.  I love learning new things!  I am a dork.  A dork full of (normally) useless information.

It was difficult.  No lying here.  After a few days it got easier though.  I found it not so difficult to find things to eat.  I even went out to eat while still on it!  Yes, it's allowed.  I ate at Barberitos so I could see and specify exactly what was going into my salad.

I did not feel deprived or hungry most of the time.  I felt just right.  (Which is how we should feel, right?)

Now for the things I would do differently.

• Discover what to eat so that I can run as fast and as hard as I'm accustomed to. (I just didn't have the energy I needed and wanted when running.) 
• Find more dinner (soup) recipes and always cook them rather than trying to eat raw pureed vegetables. (Not good.)
• Lower the prices of "good-for-you" foods. (I spent a fortune on groceries in those 10 days.)
• Ease myself back into eating other foods so that I could identify my "triggers". 
• Do this at a time when I can and want to take a break from running for a while. (Maybe after my next marathon.)

If you are in the right mind-frame (non-training) mode, I would highly recommend the Clean detox.  It allows you to have solid food, which a lot of detoxes don't.  I feel much better now that I have cleaned out my system and am going to keep up this clean thing as much as I can.  Bread is making a reappearance in my life but I don't believe that I have a gluten-allergy so I think we're cool on that one.  I need my carbs so that I can just... keep... running.