Runner Insight

Couple bits of news for you today.

First off, on Thursday (tomorrow) we’re doing a 24-hour Twitter event for our fundraising project for the “Guide Dogs for the Blind” organization. So if you’re on Twitter, we’re going to tweet and re-tweet all day long to get everyone to donate at least $1 in the name of their pet (or themselves) to Guide Dogs for the Blind.  So be on the lookout for that. Be sure to re-tweet to all your friends and followers to get them to donate if they haven’t yet! You can follow me, my Twitter id is @RunnerInsight

And secondly:

Hey the Missoula Marathon is almost here again!  I’m running in the half marathon this year.  I thought about doing the full marathon, but after coming off my back injury this winter, I just didn’t feel I had the proper time to prepare for a full 26.2 mile race. 

Although I have been running an average of 50 miles a week since April for my 1,222.25 mile virtual run over to the Ellen tv show in Burbank, most of the runs have been in the 8 to 13 mile range.  I did do a 16 mile run the other week, but I really had not planned on running that far; we just missed the turn-around point and when I checked the time, we had gone 8 miles one way, so we turned around. But it made for an intensely long run: one that took me several days to recover from.  So I have tapered off my mileage this week to give my body the proper rest it needs to run a good 13.1 mile half-marathon race on Sunday.

This year I will be taking along my white cane.  In previous race events I have relied on fellow runners to pace me, but last year there were a handful of places along the route that I felt my white cane could have come in handy. For example, coming over McClay’s bridge, the sun just hit me right in the eyes and I couldn’t see a thing, stopping me dead in my tracks! 

I’m not too concerned with my time, as I know my vision loss has slowed me down considerably over the years.  I’m just excited to be a part of such a great day…and of course looking forward to all the wonderful goodies at the finish line!

How ’bout it?

-Vision Runner

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This first paragraph here is basically a PSA for you. First off, Mother’s Day is just around the corner…and if you’re stuck for a gift suggestion and your mother likes to walk or run, or hike or bike or jog, go over to the right hand sidebar, and  get your free ebook “Gifts For Runners – More Than 50 Unique and Creative Gifts for the Runner in Your Life.” It’s got tons of great ideas, not just for runners but for anyone who enjoys walking, biking, hiking, etc. And Father’s Day is coming, too. So go get it…it’s free. Right now…what are you still reading this for…you should be over there under the FirstGiving Donate Box———>

This second paragraph here is to remind you that I’m now starting the third week of my 1,222.25 mile Run Over To Ellen’s on a quest to raise $30,000 for Guide Dogs for the Blind. So if you haven’t donated your $1.00 yet, why not click on the Donate button on the FirstGiving box in the sidebar and do that now…while it’s on your mind…I know it’s on your mind…because I’m putting it there right about now     Anyway, once you donate at least $1.00 you get special access to the private website set up for donors only, where we update you daily on our progress and post announcements and hold special VIP giveaways for donors. I know you can handle a $1.00 donation…so go for it. Over there ———>

And now, back to your regularly scheduled content…. 

Breaking Through Barriers…Or Not

Once I started running again after my back injury, I got stuck at about 3 miles when I’d go for my runs.  Don’t get me wrong…3 miles was really good considering I was out of commission with lower right back pain and sciatica for over 2 months. 

But I knew that what was happening to me had nothing to do with my physical ability to run longer or the lower right back pain or even my diminishing vision.  I had simply hit a wall.  Albeit a mental wall, but a very real wall to me, nonetheless.  I knew that I was now capable of running longer, but my mind was playing games with my body, telling me I was too tired to go any further and that I needed to take it easy on myself.

So after some consideration, I decided to call the Discovering Wellness Coaching Program that is provided free of charge to clients of my chiropractor’s office.

I knew I needed some gentle nudging, and that’s exactly what I got when I spoke with Rodrigo the Wellness Coach. No Biggest Loser show Jillian-style rants for me…as much as you’ve got to respect Jillian and what she’s accomplished on the Biggest Loser TV show, I just don’t respond well to that. I love Jillian, but of the Biggest Loser trainers, I would definitely perform better with Bob…Anyway, back to the point…Rodrigo’s immediate and simple suggestion was that maybe I could run 5 extra minutes 3 times a week. 

Well yeah…I could do that. 

We also discussed my diet and decided I was not eating enough carbs, and this would account for my low energy.  So we upped my carb intake too.  Along with some other suggestions and small goals, I was set, and Rodrigo would call and check in with me same time next week.

When I hung up the phone after talking with my coach, T looked at me and said, “I’m pretty sure I told you all those things, too.” 

Of course she did, and she was right, but sometimes I think we just have to be hit over the head with the same information multiple times before it finally sinks in! There’s also the added authority that sometimes exists when information comes from an outside source.

So the next day I started out my run with the intention of going 5 extra minutes.  When I got to the place on the trail where I had been stopping to turn around, I simply stepped around the wall in my mind that had been blocking my progress.  You see the wall wasn’t very big at all; in fact, it was quite small. I had just made it big in my mind. 

But once I moved around it, I was free.  I ran an extra mile.  About 10 more minutes!  It felt great.  I could have kept going, but I also knew I needed to be smart and not increase my mileage too fast at the risk of injuring myself. 

So what mental barrier have you thrown up to block your forward progress? 

Sometimes it just takes a little outside coaching and encouragement to help you realize that you don’t always have to expend all that energy trying to break through the wall.  You can just find another way around it. That’s what I did.   

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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As most of you know, I was struck with lower right back pain after a sneeze at the end of last year.  They diagnosed the lower right back pain as sciatica on December 30th. Since then I have been going to see my chiropractor Dr. Krieg.  It’s been just over 3 months now and I’m feeling really good and the lower right back pain is all gone. 

For a while there I wasn’t so sure how this was all going to work out.  Dr. K was aligning my upper cervical vertebrae when all my pain was lower right back pain creeping down into my right leg.  It didn’t really make a lot of sense to me, and the sciatica was intense and painful.  But I trusted that the doctor knew what he was doing, and he explained that if he didn’t start by getting my head and neck into alignment, nothing else would ever be quite right, and even if we fixed the lower right back pain for now, it could re-occur. 

Once I was past the worst of the lower right back pain and I got the go ahead to start running again several weeks ago, I was ecstatic to get out there and hit the pavement.  But as soon as I started running I found that my right calf muscle would get really tight and it caused the runs to be way less enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I was still glad to be able to get out there and run again once the chance of re-injury was past, pain or no pain. But the tight calf muscle hampered my enthusiasm somewhat.

Well it’s now been over a month since I’ve been able to run again, and each day that I run I can feel myself getting stronger and faster. And I haven’t had the lower right back pain come back.

But I must admit for a while I was wondering what he had done to me!  Was being in alignment messing up my running?  It sure felt that way my first few weeks. 

When I mentioned this to Dr. K, he told us a story about a guy he treated who was ranked in the top ten nationally in archery.  He had taken up archery later in life and had done very well, and was hoping to gain the title of National Champion, but could never place higher than about fourth place in the national events. 

After Dr. K started adjusting him, he found that he could not hit the broad side of a barn.  He asked “What the heck have you done to me?!”  Dr. Krieg told him that since he had been living out of alignment for so long, his body had compensated all these years for it, but now he was getting his body back into the alignment where he needed to be. It would take his body and his shooting some time to adjust to the new (proper) alignment.

Some time after that he was shooting better then he ever had. And the guy went on to win a national archery championship! Had he chosen to just live with his body out of alignment, he probably would have never realized his true potential.

With that story in mind, I realized that my body had to learn how to run again with the correct alignment, instead of the way it had been running (13.5 lbs heavy on the right side) for years and years.  So now that I’m running in alignment, I guess that means I’m on my way to realizing my true potential. Hey!  Maybe I’ll break my PB of 2:02 in the half marathon this year.

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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