Hi, My Name is Ada

"Are you done with your blog?" my mother asked yesterday when I stopped in to eat lunch and steal some of her speedy wi-fi to download a new batch of podcasts.

"No!" I said, somewhat surprised by the question, until I realized it really had been two and a half months since I last blogged.

How did this happen?!

For one thing, March ended up being a month full of freelance work and travel. What free time there was, was devoted to half-marathon training. Then winter just didn't stop, and somehow the days between blogging turned into weeks, which turned into months, and well, now it's 81 degrees, the lakes are ice free and the world is full of blossoms and bugs. 

The thing is, a lot has happened in these two and a half months (as you might guess), so here's the bullet point version real quick like of what's been going on since I last wrote.

Andy caught a big fish. He also got to enjoy using his snowmobile for five whole months. Yay winter?

Meanwhile, I was in Chicago, spending important time with my elderly grandparents and other family for a long weekend at the end of March. The official reason why we were all gathered was to run the annual Shamrock Shuffle 8K in downtown Chicago; my brother and his girlfriend came down from the lower peninsula of Michigan for the race too. Here's part of the crew waiting for the "L" home after the race. When I signed up for the race, I figured I'd be lucky to run the race in 55 minutes, but I actually finished with a time of 47:40. To say I'm ecstatic in this picture would be a major understatement.

Unfortunately running the race that fast triggered my old friend, patellofemoral pain syndrome. Also known as runner's knee, this malady is very common running injury (so much for a cool, funky chronic pain issue), particularly among females. It's been rearing its ugly head in my left knee since my early teens, but after running all last summer pain-free, I thought maybe we'd finally parted ways. Bahahaha.

April was a rather glum time as I kissed my beloved half marathon training schedule good-bye, iced my knee multiple times a day (during which I read a really awful Marilyn Monroe biography), spent a lot of time on the living room floor doing physical therapy, and going on a handful of painful short runs. In other words, not really how I'd planned to spend the final weeks before a May 3rd half marathon.

Knee pain aside, April had plenty of bright spots, including a bridal shower for a good friend, Easter celebrations at the cabin, and even a lovely memorial service for a great uncle. I also finished reading the Game of Thrones series . . . that only took 17 months. ;) 

Also, it kept snowing. The picture below was taken on April 25. The seemingly endless winter made it awfully hard to believe that my fifth season at work was just a couple weeks a way. Happily, I managed to get my rear in gear and actually get necessary things (you know, like gift shop orders) done.

Then all of sudden it was May and Jenny was coming into town for the Ham Run Half Marathon. I'd gone running only five times in April and my longest distance had just been eight miles. Still, I truly felt (with a little athletic tape and some ibuprofen) that I could do 13.1 miles. (Actually 13.2 miles - the course is long.) So I did.

Back in March, when I was healthy, I'd hoped to run the race in the 2:10 - 2:20 range, but considering my training and injury, when I crossed the starting line, I just wanted to also cross the finish line. 2:44:11 later, and I did. At the time I finished, I was too tired and hungry to be to overwhelmed by the accomplishment, but the more time that passes, the more I can't believe I did it - particularly after the three short runs I've huffed and puffed my way through since the race. On a bright note, after six weeks, my knee is finally pain-free again and I plan to keep it that way.

The weekend after the race, it was crafting weekend. As usual, this was such a happy fun time, until on Saturday evening, five out of seven crafters were brought down by a nasty Norovirus. Friends who barf together, stay together? Photo by the lovely Anne Victoria - pre-spewing, obvi.

 

With a slightly queasy stomach, I headed back to work full time the Monday after crafting weekend, and that's pretty much what I've been doing since. Today, I got half the garden into the ground, and also managed to clean the bathroom at long last (and make ice cream sandwiches - my real priority of the day). It's been a happy, happening time around here; I hope you've been well too.

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In A Pickle

I have to admit, I was a little shocked to realize it's been nearly a month since a new post graced this little corner of cyberspace. The thing is, I'm almost always working on a blog post in my head and it's a bit surprising to realize that not a single one of those thoughts have actually made it out of my fingertips and into reality.

As I'm apt to do this time of year, I'm feeling a nudge for some change in my life. But when I really look at things, it seems that maybe things already are changing. In the last few years, I've devoted so much energy to being a "writer," yet somehow, in the last few months I've been watching what feels like all of that focus and resolve draining away. Last month, for the first time ever, I turned down a freelance job from a gig that I've been doing since November 2009. Despite my intentions to be the best freelancer/blogger ever this summer, even with a full-time job, somehow I've barely blogged or written a word. (Have you noticed?!) Other things that have given my life structure in the past have been missing this year too, from regular ice fishing trips in the winter to blueberry picking and canning peaches this summer.

It's all a bit discomfiting and as a result, I've been suffering through an endless case of the "mean reds." You know the mean reds, don't you? As Holly Golightly put in Breakfast at Tiffany's, "The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of."

What I didn't realize when I started chasing my crazy marathon dream this spring was how much energy it would require and how it would dominate my free time. Even only running somewhere between 9-12 miles each week sucks up a great deal of my free time in the mornings since I tend to run on work day mornings. The mornings I don't run are spent cleaning the bathroom and other exciting household chores. The running's been a good thing and my body is stronger (and slimmer) than it has been in years. I'm also happy to report that the childbearing hips I'd been developing over the last couple years are now a distant (and unpleasant) memory.


But if this all just sounds rather depressing, what I'm really trying to say it that there's only so much time in each day. Our priorities dictate how we use that limited time and apparently priorities have been changing around here.

The garden has been in hardcore harvest mode for the last month or so and has been demanding a fair amount of attention. I've been canning (dilly beans and pickled carrots and daikon radishes pictured below) and freezing (16 lbs of green beans and at least that much again of kohlrabi) and drying (mint and oregano), whirring (pesto) and shredding (zucchini). I'd say we're at least at the halfway point for harvest 2013 and we have been blessed with another bountiful year. That said, I never want to blanch another green bean ever again. Well, at least not until next year.

We had a strange hot spell at the end of August that really tested everyone's good humor. At times such as those, I'm especially happy to live only an hour away from a Great Lake. When it's 95 degrees at your home, it's lovely to go spend some time next to what essentially is a very foggy refrigerator.

We finally pulled up all of our giant kohlrabi (and blanched it and froze it, oy). The biggest kohlrabi (below) ended up weighing in at 6.5 lbs. Not quite the 8 lbs promised on the packaging, but still a pretty impressive cruciferous vegetable specimen. I'm usually not for giant vegetables (probably because the only vegetables I've ever encountered in giant form are zucchinis) but I found a fair amount of Wallace and Gromit-ish pleasure in our large kohlrabi.

 

Speaking of beautiful vegetables, check out these beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes we pulled out of a rotting pile of straw. We hadn't really planned on doing the Stout method of gardening again (basically, where you put seed potatoes on the ground and cover them with straw and forget about them) but I'm so glad we did.

Andy and I had to run into town last weekend to attend his cousin's wedding celebration, which was a lovely event with really, really good eats. We didn't stay too long, but did manage to capture the most truthful photo of the two of us at a social gathering ever taken. Ha. Hahahahaha.

 

This weekend, my friend Sarah comes to stay with us and I'm so excited to have her up when the world is not either totally frozen (February) or one mucky mess (April). I'm not sure what we'll get up to exactly, but I'm looking forward to it immensely.

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Becoming A Runner

Three months ago I decided to follow what seemed then a somewhat crazy whim. I decided after decades of wanting to run a marathon, it was finally time to get training. I’ve tried to become a runner countless times but each time, bit off more than I could chew initially. (I should be able to go from not running 10 feet to running 3 miles in a week, right? Wrong.) The last time I attempted running -about five years back – I did pretty well until knee pain reared its ugly head about two months in. I reluctantly hung up my old tired running shoes (no doubt, I realize now, the primary cause of my patellofemoral pain syndrome flare-up at the time) and went to ice my knees. To make matters worse, I was also in the midst of the worst relationship of my life – but that’s another story for another day.

The point is, I spent a good portion of my adult life wanting to run but every time I got the urge to run, I quickly squashed that idea with an assumption that I couldn’t run. While my desire to run never went away, with time, my assumption that it was something I couldn’t do started to fade away. A little over a year ago I realized I wasn’t ready to give up on my dream of running a marathon.

It was time to give running another go, but this time I didn’t want to fail. I knew from past experience that lacing up the closest thing to running shoes I currently had on hand (usually a beat up pair of Adidas) and heading out the door with some half-ass plan of eventually being able to run 26.2 miles just wasn’t going to work. I needed a solid plan. I need structure. I needed to stay injury free. So before I went on my first run this spring I made sure I had:

• New, but broken in, running shoes. Because I know my body has a predisposition for knee pain, I opted for well-reviewed motion control shoes.
• A training plan.
• A goal: Chicago Marathon 2015. 

I used the above training plan for the Color Run to great success. I liked that the plan includes running in the very first week, that it used time rather than mileage to track the running/walking ratio, and that it worked to slowly build up strength, endurance and confidence. Had I set out on day one to run half an hour (or even just fifteen – okay, even five- minutes) I likely would have failed, but by week 8 of following the training plan three days a week, I was totally ready to run 30 minutes without stopping. No big deal.

I’ve spent a lot of time wishing I was a runner and truth be told, even after I finished up the eight week training plan, I felt more like a person who could run rather than a runner. It wasn’t until I went for a run during crafting weekend because I couldn’t imagine going four days without running that I realized, hey, look at that: I’m a runner. And like that my dream of running a marathon turned into a goal.

I credit my success this go around in large part to my advance preparations. I’m also still reaping the rewards from the lessons I learned from reading The Willpower Instinct.

 This past Saturday, I ran six miles without stopping. SIX miles. Running anything more than a 5K seemed downright impossible just three months ago. I’m not speedy by any stretch of the imagination, but I am out there. I am doing this thing.

Now I wonder if my goal of running the Chicago Marathon in 2015 was too modest. In truth, I think I’ll be ready to run a decent distance long before October 2015 and so I’ve been working towards an alternative (albeit somewhat smaller goal) of running a local half marathon next May.

As corny as this will sound, you really can make a habit of doing the impossible. Whatever your goal is, whether it’s running a marathon, writing a novel, paying off your student debt, or whatever, you can get there with a plan, a will, and a large dose of consistency.
 

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Lofty Goals

So remember that time when I was all like, "I'm going to start running again." You know, back in March . . .  of  last year?

It's not that I forgot about that little post and my best intentions to get active again. But I never did start running last year because (and this is so dumb), I never got around to purchasing running shoes. Yep, you heard me. I literally have not owned a pair of athletic shoes for the last two years. After all, I live in the woods (and hence do not frequent gyms) and spend the majority of the year wearing some type of boots.

About a month ago I realized that I could say I wanted to run a marathon until I was blue in the face, but until I ordered some shoes and actually started, you know, training, I would never actually accomplish that goal. So last Friday, after researching motion control running shoes to keep my ol' pal "knee pain" at bay, I purchased a pair of Mizuno Wave 9 shoes via Ebates - (hullo free shipping and cash back). They arrived yesterday. 

Aren't they pretty?!

So this is me committing to the Chicago Marathon 2015. (And probably Shamrock Shuffle 2014 and 2015, and perhaps Grandma's Half 2015 too.)

Why Chicago 2015? For one it gives me plenty of time to train - nearly two and a half years since Chicago's 2015 marathon will be held October 11. For another, I'm hopeful that my job situation will have changed a bit and I'll not longer be under contract to work most weekends in October. Also, I'll be 30 (shock, gasp, HORROR!) and what better way to ring in a new decade then making a major "check" on my bucket list. 

Why a marathon? Ever since I watched runners participating in Grandma's Marathon as a little girl, I've been caught up in the romance of marathons. I come from a family of runners and recently, my cousin (who completed her first Chicago marathon last year) and a couple bloggers (here and here) have provided ample inspiration and made me feel like a marathon really is within the realm of my possibility. Also, I want a marathon t-shirt. Not going to lie. 

While my decision to start running was made before Monday's bombing, I'm pleased to part of the population committing to marathons as a way of showing solidarity for Boston. (That said I will not be running the Boston marathon anytime soon - I have no current hopes to be that speedy.) While I'm not making light of this week's shocking and tragic event, with the current "suck it Boston Marathon bomber; I'm running a marathon" attitude going around, I can't help but be reminded of that David Cross skit about a rollerblader wearing a gas mask on NYC streets on September 12, 2001: "If Gabriel wants to rollerblade, Gabriel rollerblades. If Gabriel does not rollerblade, then the terrorists have truly won."

I'm also reminded of those wise words from Dory of Finding Nemo fame -just swap out "swim" with "run": "Do you know whatcha gotta do, when life gets you down?  Just keep swimming, just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim."

Training will have to wait until some of this #$@*! snow has melted, but I'm pleased to have made the first (teeny, tiny) step towards achieving a very lofty goal. 

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The Desire To Run

For the last couple months, I've had a desire to run. Not run "away," mind you, although depending on the day, sometimes that can seem like a good idea. Just a desire to lace up some running shoes, hit the pavement and start going.

There's just one little issue.

I don't run.

My brother runs, my father runs, my uncles run. I have a cousin who runs marathons. I've been trying  to run since my preteen days and all that it's ever resulted in for me is a really red face and a bunch of loogies. (TMI? TMI.) I've managed a few 5Ks in my day, but really, I don't like running and running doesn't like me. As I've grown older, it's become apparent that pounding pavement makes my knees go in two different directions. (Any fellow patellofemoral pain syndrome sufferers out there?)

So why try again? Why bother, when I've proven it's not my cup of tea over and over again?

When I returned home from London, I ran for a couple months and I'd gotten fairly decent at it before my knees screamed at me to stop. Now, through tape and exercise, I've figured out ways to make my knees behave and since my exercise this winter has been limited to the daily mile-long round trip to the mail box and the occasional hike to the fishing hole, it's time to step my cardio exercise up a bit. I've been a slug.

While I haven't exactly been packing on the pounds this winter, I've become a little more "plush" then I care to be. After all, I'm 27 years old. If I'm not in the best shape of my life now, when will I be? I'm no star athlete, but as someone who swam and played hockey and soccer as a teen, I know my fitness level has the potential to be much greater than it is currently.

Then there's the whole bucket list thing; I've always wanted to run at least one marathon in my life. Last summer I stumbled upon this blog and began to why I've always made running a marathon one of those goals I'll worry about tomorrow. All sorts of people surprise themselves into running marathons and here I am, an able bodied 20-something, complaining that my knees are too bad to even bother trying.

Really?

I am the person who moved to London with no job prospects and no housing lined up after college and managed to live there happily and successfully for my visa's allowed six months. I am the person who took a B.A. in English - which everyone said I'd need another advanced degree in if I wanted any sort of career - and turned it into a decent freelance writing business. I am the person who bought a manual transmission car, without knowing how to drive it, which I now happily toodle around in.

But I won't run because it's hard? Really?

Every once in a while we all need a kick in the butt, a reality check. A time to stop pining and a time to start doing. 

With our current spring-like weather, much of our snow is melting. The shoulder of the road is clear and dry and ready for runners. If I put off buying a pair of running shoes much longer, I'm just procrastinating. 

So I think I'll start running again. Because I want to. Because I can.

Do you run? How did you get started? Is there anything new you'll be trying out this spring? 


 

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Guest Post: Making the Miles Count

Note from Ada: This week and next I'm asking some of my bloggy friends to help fill the Of Woods and Words soundwaves. I come from a family of runners and I've always wanted to be one myself. However, despite keeping a life goal of someday running a marathon hidden in my darkest corners, I really only run when chased. However, my cousin Megan from Megler is a bonafide runner, with more than personal fitness in mind when she's running.

"Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'." -Paul Tergat, Kenyan professional marathoner

There are a lot of reasons why people are drawn to the sport of running. It is the easiest sport, after all. Almost anyone can do it. All you really need is what you were born with: serviceable eyesight, two functioning legs, and the will to quickly place one of them in front of other over and over again. Shoes are helpful, but as the surge in the popularity of barefoot running is rapidly proving, they are far from necessary. What is vital though is that “will” part; the keen desire and motivation to do something that an alarmingly large number of people see as “crazy.”

Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat - running, even great distances like the half marathon, marathon, or even the super marathon, is not crazy. Historically, it’s the way we humans got around. Humanity was running for centuries before the domestication of horses, the invention of the wheel, the cart, bicycle, car or airplane. Though running, as a mode of transportation, has fallen out of fashion, it’s no less vital to our survival as a species. After all, when the zombies rise, who do you think is going to get eaten first? Yep, that’s right - the folks who are too slow to get away.

Being faster than the undead horde that wants to disembowel and eat you was plenty of reason for me to get up off the couch and start putting miles on my running shoes. Slightly less forward in my mind, however, was the looming goal I set for myself of running the Walt Disney World Marathon in January of 2012. In preparation for that, I decided it would be a good idea to get a few shorter distance races in before the main event, which is how I came to hear about the annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon in Chicago.

As I was planning my training for the marathon, I researched a few half marathons to find one that was close to home and about half-way through the training schedule I’d written for myself. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon sounded like it would be fun. There are live bands scheduled to play at every mile marker, a race expo in the train station I commute in and out of every day, and a friggin’ sweet after party. While all that stuff is cool, my real deciding factor in picking the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon were the charities associated with it.

Most races these days, especially larger ones, partner with charity organizations or non-profits. Many runners, myself included, like to have a secondary motivation for their running, such as committing to raise money for a good cause. As a whole, runners tend to be dedicated people, and they’re always looking for ways to make their running more impactful and beneficial, both for themselves and for others. Races that benefit good causes provide warm fuzzies for the runners and much-needed income for charities, especially in a down economy. Everyone wins. As a person who works for a non-profit organization, I’m well versed on the reasons why financial support is more important these days than ever before. Without our support, many of the great things that have come about as a result of charitable donations simply wouldn’t have happened.

Those of us who are old-timers at the giving-game all have our pet causes. One of mine is cancer research. Among a few other charity/non-profit organizations, the R’N’R Half Marathon directly benefits the American Cancer Society, so it was a very logical, natural choice for me.

I don’t need to explain how important cancer research is. These days, there isn’t a person in America that hasn’t been or won’t be touched by cancer at some point. In my own life, I’m sorry to say that at least one of the exceptional people I’ve known who’ve fought the battle with cancer wasn’t able to win it. In 2009, my father-in-law, Mike, passed away from esophageal cancer about a week after my husband, brothers-in-law, and I last visited him. It’s a loss our whole family feels deeply. We miss Mike every day and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that our loss, and every other cancer death, is unfair. It might sound a little childish, but I find it horribly unfair to look at all of the advances in medical science humanity has made and realize that the one we really needed, a cure for cancer, wasn’t there in time.

To save others from having to go through the pain of cancer and losing loved ones to it is why it made sense to me to use my half-marathon to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I’ve committed to raise $975 and though fund raising has been slow going so far, I’m hoping to reach my goal by August 1, 2011. I know that doesn’t seem like a great deal of money in today’s world, but every little bit helps.

If you’d like more information, please visit My Fundraising Page. You can learn about the history of the American Cancer Society, how they use donation dollars, read survivor stories, and, of course, donate to support the organization and help me reach my fundraising goal, if you choose to do so. Your interest and support are greatly appreciated.

One last note - Thanks to my cousin, Ada, for asking me to guest-blog for her. I really appreciate the opportunity to reach a whole new audience. Thanks, cuz!

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