We overcompensate for our weaknesses by dedicating more time or energy to the things that we are better at because facing the weak aspects of ourselves may be too overwhelming or too difficult. Ignoring or pushing aside these aspects of ourselves that are sub-par will only lead to deeper and more permanent injuries that will be harder to recover from in the future. 

“Don’t look down...I’ve picked up all the pennies.”
That’s what my High School coach would always say when we were running. It has always been recommended by coaches throughout my running career that it is extremely important to look forward towards the ground a couple feet ahead. Benefits include better posture, easier decision making, and keeps you focused --with you eye on the prize.
Failed attempts at projects and investments, along with the painful love strike-outs, among other mishaps cause us to look down, when in those times is when we should maintain our focus fixed on the goals and horizon ahead to lead us out of those dark moments. The obstacles, difficulties and strains of life’s wear and tear on us make giving up a tempting option. At times we get bogged down with our very present current situation, but looking up and slightly forward could be just the perspective shift that we were yearning. 

Don’t overdo it: 
Hard part about this is making the distinction between overdoing it and pushing your limits. That’s where having  a plan to guide you is always beneficial. Signs of overdoing it may be constant fatigue that drains all your energy stores. You may experience signs from feeling easily irritable or  unable to stay focused/centered, to more drastic situations like injuries or even illness. As runners we will constantly struggle with the questions: Am I doing too much? or Am I doing enough? The answer lies in listening to our hears and bodies. Unfortunately, when testing for TOO MUCH vs ENOUGH, it's a grade that we can only give ourselves when we are able to strip away the mess that surrounds our lives and get to our core. 
Whether its food, training, loving, spending, nagging,..OVERDOing  things is never a good game plan. As the saying goes, “Everything in moderation”, is the best plan of action, though most times easier said than done. Especially as runners, we are known to have “go-overboard” kind of personalities. No one is perfect, and maybe its a weakness that you too, like myself, need to work on.

Every run we take we are working on breaking through these DON’Ts. We are practicing habits that will not only make us stronger runners but stronger people. We are working on our weaknesses- whether it’s endurance, speed, leg cadence, our kick, or our listen skills, ability to forgive, willingness to allow ourselves to be loved, or having the courage to trust. Every time we look up we are reminded that it may be too late to change where we are stepping at the current second but we are just in time to make better decisions as to  what ground our next footplant will strike. Steering clear of these DON'Ts may lead to more fulfilling running experiences and who knows, may also lead to happier, more peace-filled lives.
 
                                                                                                                                                                        -Happy Growing =)

Who remembers that game: Keep in Rhythm, jolly jolly rhythm...Ready OH, Lets Go….Starting with ZERROOOOO…??If you don’t, you had no childhood! I’m kidding, but for real, how did you not ever play that game during recess with a group of friends?

Anyway. The point of the game was to keep in rhythm as you said different numbers and each person was assigned to represent a different number.  At the beginning it was easy because the numbers were in order. But as the game advanced, the numbers started getting OUT of order and when people would mess up, they would get kicked out/eliminated from the game. Besides the ORDER changing, the game
would start picking up it’s tempo as well which added to the intensity.

At the beginning of the workout,  I started questioning if I was going too hard or too fast for what I should be doing. I remembered its all about perspective. There used to be a time a couple years ago where runs and workouts like these were part of the everyday- literally. When I started thinking that this needed to feel normal, that this pace should feel okay, I  was able to shift to my “keep-in-rhythm-game” mode; my breathing calmed, my mind settled, and my legs started doing what they knew they could.

 After the 6th lap, I wanted to keep going and I felt like I could but I knew there was enough in the gas tank, but I finished what I had set out to do. It took me the mile cool-down to realize that I had just matched my 10k PR, in a controlled, level-headed, fun (game-like) manner.

If you try the keep-in-rhythm Game, let me know how it works out for you! But remember, one of the keys to the game is to keep in rhythm with the right person and trusting that your body is capable of more that we give it credit for.

Last night, at 6:55pm, after a long day at work, with blisters adorning my achilles and consequently sending currents of pain up my leg, I taped up my feet, put my compression socks on, and strapped on a smile that would later turn into a game face.

As we started the mile warm-up, my legs felt heavy and I wasn't expecting too much out of my body for the workout, besides going through the motions,  which I knew would be good for me- quicker turnover, faster cadence-style running.

When we got into the bread and butter--the 300s, I thought: "Shoot, this may be a little harder than I was expecting." But then I looked around and saw all the other people who were doing the workout and realized that it really is ALL MENTAL. Our perspective of the situation at hand. I shifted to focusing on what was my original intent...working on my stride length, which is what I had come to do. I felt like I was chopping my steps, since my stride is usually much longer. It felt awkward, almost robotic....but I was going faster. The repeats just seemed to pass me by. By the time I asked how many sets we had left, we were 2 away from being done and I felt stronger than ever.

When the 300s were over, the workout wasn't. We still had a 2 mile tempo run left. I saw two guys take off and without letting my doubts creep in, I followed. Jokingly I said under my breath to a couple other girls who were taking off on the tempo: Anything they can do, we can do---or we'll die trying. I guess a part of you has to believe that in order to attempt to try and run with them. They do have more muscle strength, they do have more speed....but us girls...we can be fierce when we want to be.

Turns out  I didn't die. I felt great. I even started to have thoughts about how fast I could race if I actually continued to train like this. In races, I guess we hold back because we feel like we are going to DIE...but workouts are a little different. That fear of dyeing is somewhat suppressed by the fact that the outcome of the workout doesn't matter as much since it's "just a practice". 


 I thought of Aristotle's' quote:  "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." And therein lies the problem--maintaining that level of intensity, pushing yourself in workouts till you feel like throwing up,  finding the inspiration to stick with it, not let up,  and not being scared of being EXHAUSTED---those are the habits that are hard to develop! 

- Happy training

Yesterday was a day filled with mixed emotions and lots of thought provoking, tear jerking, questioning and reflecting. By five o'clock I knew the only way to relieve some of the heaviness weighing on my heart would be to take my emotions out for a nice long open water swim.

When I first got out there I completely forgot about everything that had transpired throughout the day. I could only focus on getting my breathing and kicking into a good rhythm. Taken back by the beautiful sunset I was getting to witness at water level, I knew that this was exactly what I needed.

Throughout the swim I would often find myself either going towards shore or heading out towards the sunset. I would try and swim in a straight line but I would often have to look up and correct my direction. On the way out I didn't really have a good focal point (which made things a little harder) but on the way back I was using a the biggest building in the Brickell area to guide me which made things much easier (though I still did swerve).

By the time I was making my way to the starting point, the sun was spectacularly setting with a bright red hue that almost made it seem as if Miami was burning. Only problem was that I was quickly starting to notice the water getting darker. The group of swimmers had spread out a lot and so there were points where I felt all alone.  That's when I stopped to tread water for a second and look around for the other swim caps. They were all still out there. From water level I couldn't really see them but as I lifted my head a little more, the kaleidoscope of colored swim caps appeared and disappeared before me.

I came to the conclusion (at about the 3rd booey from the finish) that it's okay to swerve, lose sight of your focal point momentarily, even panic when you feel all alone in an ocean that is quickly getting darker....as long as  in those moments we  try lifting our head a little more to notice that we are actually surround by many others---just like us, going in the same direction, with their eyes on the same goals. We are not alone on this journey. And sometimes, all it takes for us to regain perspective is a little pause, a couple seconds of treading water, for us to be able to continue confidently in the direction we were headed. 
#justkeepswimming #lookup #lookaround #harddays #theraputictraining #itsofficial

So this morning, a friend (Brittany) sent me an email that really made my day! She sent me a PDF of a presentation she saw...where the subject was RESILIENCE. She told me: "Each of us has our own story, our own setbacks and our own triumphs...and its all apart of our journey through the "human condition. Its amazing to see how resilient humans are and can be."

There are a lot of things that I thought I would never be able to do, but just as this marathon keeps proving to me, THE HUMAN CONDITION is INCREDIBLE....I'm amazed at what I have been able to achieve and continue to do besides the emotional and physical setbacks. I don't want to be a person that is constantly blaming those circumstances that surround me...for my inability to live a fulfilling life! It's always our choice! It's our choice to thank those around us who give us the opportunity to stop everything and start over from scratch. It's our choice to look at the things that are making us suffer or causing internal conflict when we look in the mirror and CHANGE that about OURSELVES. We are the only ones that should be amazed at who see see staring back at us in the mirror every morning (wink wink).

As the reality of this marathon creeps closer and the pain from my bike accident 14 days ago still hasn't
allowed me to run more than 8 miles...I realize that success and failure are subjective. Sunday morning's race will be run to push my limits--obviously the physical ones, but my limits of courage as well. I'll be
needing a MONUMENTAL amount of courage for this next chapter as one story ends and another one beautifully begins. I will need courage to not back out, and NOT GIVE UP on myself, on my goals, on my dreams, and on the future that I see! I need courage to continue to love my life and be thankful for all the amzing people in it who challenge me everyday to BE BETTER. 

- Happy Marathoning!

With the craziness of the last couple days, I haven't had a chance to work on a good luck packet that I wanted to put together for some friends running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday and the Southernmost Half/Full Marathons this Saturday in Key West.

There are millions of people that have been preparing for these races.  A couple of which are from my neck of the woods and have been able to witness THEM IN TRAINING: weekday mornings swarming Alice C. Wainwright Park (AWP) left and right (literally), and weekends rushing the streets and sidewalks of Miami like if some secret adventure race was going on. 

 Some of the runners competing I've just recently had the pleasure of meeting while a few others have been inspiring, pushing, and racing for years (coming up on 14 years Danny!).

From the bottom of my heart I wish you a STRONG, cramp free, lactic acid build up free, bowl-movement free, blister free, chafe free SPECTACULAR RACE! Since most of the people I know who are running are either heading to the airport right about now, are already on a plane to O'Hare (CHI), or are packing up to leave to Key West bright and early, I wanted to give you a little something to entertain your travels.

Dear Marathoner friend ____________________<----Insert your name there,

Whether it's your first or your twenty first marathon, the experience will be unforgettable, not only for the miles and miles or markers you will pass, but for the memories that you have built and the person you have become on this journey to this race.

It is going to be hard....but you will not die. In fact, if you trust your training and the crazy guys that are training you, you will be happily surprised at what you will accomplish.  When in doubt...always repeat out loud...I will finish ;)

TAKE in the WHOLE ADVENTURE! From the traveling to the dinners, from the warm-up to the post race freebies! Enjoy it all! For this small fracture of space in time, you will be living in a RUNNER dream world

TAKE IN THE CROWD! Be encouraged by the voices of people, ones you know and others you've never met, cheering for you as if you were a superstar! According to Wikipedia (not the best source-I know) "Superstar is a term used to refer to a celebrity who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent or successful in some field." GUESS WHAT? To many people back here in Miami, you are just that!  Let their celebrations of your accomplishment along the course serve as fuel to get you through the tough parts of the race.

TAKE IN THE GLORY! The pain, you'll feel, the cramps, you'll deal with, and the millions of voices in your head making you question why you are out there will be ALL BE GONE minutes after you cross that finish line...well maybe not the pain in your legs (details details), but the glory of your finish will last forever. Knowing that what you've accomplished is no small feat by any means--NOT just  in completing the race but following through with/committing to the training---that is what sets you apart from everyone else!

The hard part is done...
Now you get to race and CELEBRATE!