Never say Never……

On February 24, 2016 By DGThomaIn Exercise, Family, Friends, WritingLeave a comment

Everyone is guilty of saying I will never… I’ve begun many sentences with it myself.

A few of my favorites are:

“I will never wear tennis shoes with a dress just to get in a walk during my work day.” This one I do often!
“I will never be one of those parents/grandparents who…, well lots of things.” There are too many of these to list.
And, “I will never run 13.1 miles!” This time I don’t mind being proven wrong.

In 2001, my husband signed up for and trained for the 3M half marathon. I thought he was crazy to even consider it, but I knew he would finish it once he’d committed.

He trained for several months and never missed a scheduled run. We lived in the Texas panhandle and rain, sleet or snow never kept him from completing a training run. He is much more disciplined than me. When we met, I was a runner, and he a cyclist. I jogged occasional laps on the track and around the neighborhood; he rode for 60 miles on the weekend. I learned to ride but rode only once or twice a year. He fell in love with running.

So before sunrise early February 4, 2001, I dropped my husband at the start line. I ate breakfast and headed downtown to watch him finish. Runners crossed the finish line celebrating their victories. I turned to my friend and vowed, “I could never run 13 miles and why would anyone want to run that far?”

Fifteen years later, having completed 15 half marathons and 17 full marathons, I stood in the predawn chill ready to run the 3M half marathon. As I waited along with 5400+ runners, I shivered in the cool morning breeze and remembered that declaration. I could never have envisioned myself running more than 2-3 miles at a time back then.

On this day, I was running with my good friend, Shirley and our goal was simply to finish. Shirley has lost over one hundred pounds and is determined to keep it off. She ran her first half marathon in San Antonio in December 2015 and as we crossed the finish line, she asked, “When’s the next one?” So here we are lining up to make the trek from North Austin to the State Capitol downtown. Shirley trained for the run using the run/walk method. In San Antonio, we ran one minute and walked one minute throughout the course. Our plan today was to do the same.

When we crossed the start line, we were both running strong. As the alarm sounded for our walk break, Shirley said, “I’m feeling good. I want to keep going.” So we kept going. Eleven minutes later I looked up and saw the first mile sign. Pointing to the sign I asked, “Have you ever run a mile without a break?”

When she answered no, I replied, “Well now you have!” Both our eyes were glistening when we passed the one-mile mark.

At mile 7, we waited in line for a “porta potty”. That stop cost us 10 minutes but sometimes you have to listen to mother nature!

As we ran through the University of Texas I was in front of Shirley. Suddenly, I heard a group of runners singing. Shirley was talking to a nearby runner and mentioned it was her birthday the next day. A spontaneous rendition of Happy Birthday rang out as we passed by the UT stadium.

We completed the course and shaved 10 minutes off our San Antonio time. Even with the delay of our bathroom break we were faster. Amazing!

First thing Monday morning Shirley was standing at my desk with a handful of ½ marathon flyers, asking “Which one is next?”

So while we decide on the next one, we’ve already signed up for 3M 2017!

On a Mission

On May 20, 2015 By DGThomaIn Exercise, Family, Food, Gardening, Musings, WritingLeave a comment

Saturday morning I was up at 6:00 am and on a mission. I was determined to find a recipe for the perfect soap. I was planning to make the soap as a gift for someone special.

I decided to take a few days off from training and running this weekend. I will get serious next week (I promise :p). So, I joined a studio this week, which offers yoga classes, Pilates, boot camps and more. Next week, I am going to take a few classes and increase my mileage. Hopefully, I can get myself ready for a half marathon in November.

But Saturday was a day for creativity. I began by catching up on some writing projects. I spent a few minutes on Pinterest and found some perfect recipes. One for the soap and also one for some lotion I thought might be fun to try. I checked the ingredients and found I needed rosemary essential oil.

No problem. There is a small rosemary plant out in my garden. I love my little garden…… and it is little. I have two tomato plants and a couple of pepper plants along with my herbs. I clipped some fresh rosemary from my garden to blend my essential oil.

I researched and found two different methods for infusing essential oil. One method required drying the rosemary for a few days, dropping it into a bottle and covering with oil to infuse over time. The second method called for warming fresh rosemary and oil in a crock pot for about 6 hours to infuse. I chose the latter for several reasons. The main reason? I wanted to enjoy the aroma of the oil while it infused.

Mixing the oils together for the lotion was relatively easy, but I was disappointed in the consistency of the lotion. Nonetheless, I now have a lovely jar of rosemary essential oil in my cabinet. It has already been used to sauté a handful of mushrooms which were tossed into a skillet of quinoa for a delicious meal.

But now it is dinner time, and I think I will go out and pick some fresh tomatoes for my salad.

Zooma Half Marathon 2015

On April 1, 2015 By DGThomaIn Exercise, News and Reviews, Writing3 Comments

Saturday morning Mar 29, 2015, the much awaited/dreaded race day. Up at 4:20 AM, we needed to arrive at the Cedar Creek high school parking lot before 6:00 AM. The shuttle buses would start running at that time to transport runners and spectators to the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa for the Zooma Texas 2015. We were out the door by 5:10 AM and on our way. We arrived at the parking lot by 5:55 AM and scrambled to make sure we had our watches, gels and sunscreen before boarding the bus.

The temperature was mild at 55 degrees with a light breeze. By the time we arrived at the Resort, I was grateful to be wearing my jacket as the temperature dipped to 47 degrees. The resort is beautifully nestled in a wilderness setting. The run is not ‘a walk in the park’. It is peppered with multiple hills from slight rises to steep grades. If you plan to run this race, you should train on hills.

We arrived at the resort and moved inside where staff opened the door and welcomed us. Inside additional staff were stationed throughout the building offering smiles, greetings and directions as needed.

For runners who are used to port-a-potties at the start of a race, it was quite a treat to have indoor, clean and warm restroom facilities. It was wonderfully relaxing to sip a cup of complimentary coffee seated on a comfortable chair and visit with fellow runners. In the lobby, I met Shonda and Lisa from Houston, TX where we joked, laughed and discussed race strategy.

As we lined up at the starting line there were a couple of llama’s on the sidelines to send us on the way.

Once on the course, runners were full of smiles and waves. As I turned onto Highway 71, a school bus full of kids passed by. With the windows down, they were all shouting ‘Run Forrest Run’! I smiled for several miles remembering their enthusiasm.

The last couple of miles were on the resort property, along a relatively flat only slightly rolling path on the golf course. Mile 13 was marked by the resident longhorns lounging in the grass.

This is the third time I have run Zooma at the Lost Pines Resort. It has not disappointed yet. If you can forget about those hills for a minute, the scenery is lovely. The run starts in the parking lot and continues to Pope Bend which is a county road. The road is lined with wildflowers including Bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes and natural grasses. There is a short leg of the course that takes you down the shoulder of Highway 71, but it’s relatively short and downhill.

The temperature and winds both rose as I neared the finish line. The wind, although gusting at times, was a relief from the 70+ degree temperatures.

The Zooma race mission is to inspire women to live healthy, happy, & active lives. The post-race celebrations included vendors, live music, food, and massages. Sponsor Barefoot wines provided post-race samples and complimentary coffee was also available.

The race field the inaugural year 2009 was over 1200 women. This year the event included a 5K and a 10K in addition to the half marathon. There were only 362 runners in the half marathon, 162 in the 5K and 173 in the 10K but the celebration was just as entertaining.

Not my Chi…..Anticipatory Failure

On March 25, 2015 By DGThomaIn Exercise, Family, Friends, Humor/Light Hearted, Musings, Writing5 Comments

On the journey to recapture my fitness, I am trying to remind myself to draw on my chi. Chi Running, defines chi (pronounced ‘chee’) as the energy that unites body, mind, and spirit. How awesome is that. If only I could learn to tap into that!

A few years ago, when we traveled to in San Francisco, CA for the Nike Women’s Marathon, my running partner and I purchased stones with Chinese symbols engraved on them. We each chose a symbol that had special meaning for us. We often trade them at the beginning of a race as a symbol of support for each other. We call them our chi.

As fun things often do, they took on a life of their own. On our training runs, if someone just a little faster ran past us, we would challenge ourselves and pick up the pace, shouting “It’s our chi!”

If someone sprinted by much faster, we would look at each other and proclaim, “Not my chi!”

Those little engraved stones have become a symbol of support and companionship, but occasionally even they aren’t enough to push me up a hill.

Years ago, someone told me a secret to running hills. You should visualize a rope at the top of the hill and imagine someone is pulling you forward. It’s a great visualization and can help. But it can’t really pull you. You still have to move your legs and when you haven’t trained; well it isn’t as easy to make it up the hill.

Recently, I was out for a run with my two favorite running partners. It was an easy and pleasant run and things were going well. We were at the start of our training plan, so the run was short and not too aggressive. Near the end of the run, we were faced with a hill. The hill is about a 45 degree incline alongside a busy road. When I looked ahead and saw the hill I said, “I’m going to run to the bottom of the hill and then I’ll walk the actual hill.” I was thinking I was already tired and would not have the energy to run up the hill. Both my companions nodded and headed for the hill determined to beat it.

I realized I had allowed anticipatory failure to keep me from making it up the hill. No it’s not ‘rocket science’ but for me it was an eye opener. I actually got it. If you don’t start, you can’t finish is a real thing. I ran the hill, huffing and puffing the entire way, but I didn’t stop until I reached the top. Even if I had taken a break half way it would have been fine. I wasn’t attempting to set a record, just keep moving until my body said stop instead of my head.

I have a half marathon to run in this weekend and haven’t trained as well as I could have, but I never do. I considered switching to the 10k instead. Then I remembered the hill and changed my mind. I may not finish, but I will start and I will listen to my body not the anticipatory failure in my head.

Toto we’re not in Austin anymore…..

On February 18, 2015 By DGThomaIn Exercise, Friends, Humor/Light HeartedLeave a comment

I’m still playing catch-up on my training for the Zooma half marathon. I am slowly building up both time and distance as the date moves closer. Tonight we ran through downtown Austin.

We started at the Treaty Oak on Baylor and ran down 6^th street toward the interstate. At the interstate we looped around and started down 5^th heading to our car. As we ran we wove our way through tourists, 5:00 o’clock workers heading home, valets parking cars, homeless people and early evening patrons heading into one of the many bars that pepper 6^th street.

We discovered a sign for the best hamburger in Austin, one that said they had the best dumplings in Austin and discovered an entirely different town alive with entertainment.

We drive these roads every day, but everything changes when you’re on the ground at 5:00 PM on 6^th street in Austin. We may not be setting any speed or distance records but we did have a lot of fun!

See you on the trails!