Did you know that Sunday 11/11/12 was World Run Day?

I decided to participate!

World Run Day was established in 1999 to promote running around the world as well as charitable giving. Anyone can participate, anywhere, run any distance and donate to a charitable cause of their choice. Some cities have racing events set up specifically for World Run Day. Some people decide to run on World Run Day as part of a group. I decided to run the “race” as an individual, since I do like running alone.

I planned to cross running around Lake Calhoun off my list as part of World Run Day if it was a nice day. Otherwise, if time didn’t permit, I would just run a route around my neighborhood. In addition, due to the flexibility of running it on my own, I changed my race date to Saturday – 11/10/12. The drawback is that they didn’t have my race bib ready for download, but I did have my World Run Day t-shirt which I planned to wear!

My cause:

Homeward Bound Rescue

Homeward Bound is the non-profit organization through which I adopted my beloved Sophie Jean back in 2005. I actually went to the adoption to look at another dog, but upon seeing him didn’t think it was a good fit. I passed by two crates of puppies. One of the pooches turned her head and looked up and me with these darling eyes. It was love at first sight. I picked her up and couldn’t put her down. I went home with Sophie Jean that day. We are currently living happily ever after. 😉

The Week of the Race…

It was kind of a rough/busy week.

The previous week I actually had to take Sophie to the Emergency vet one night. Talk about scary!

Then, Monday turned out to be a binge day for me. I scarfed down cheese and crackers. I haven’t done that in a long time. I made a mental note of it, picked up and moved on.

Tuesday, I was still feeling a bit down. My husband encouraged me to run before dinner. Afterward, I felt much better!

Wednesday, we went downtown right after work to enjoy dinner and beers at the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis. We walked across the street to attend a concert at the 400 Bar. Although it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to {check out Shovels & Rope here!}, we didn’t get home until about 1am.

Then after little sleep and working all day Thursday, I had a Wine Tasting Thursday night. It was such a fun group of women and I got to see some people I haven’t seen in a really long time!

Still, by Friday, I was feeling very run down. I woke up with a nasty cough. I don’t get sick that often, so I thought it was really strange that I was getting this cough not long after getting a over a cold.

Then I had an epiphany.

This is the cough I would get once or twice a year in college. It didn’t hinder me from going to class or parties or out with friends. It’s just an annoying cough that comes from deep within my lungs. It’s rough sounding, kind of like a smoker’s hack, only I’ve never smoked a day in my life.

After all these years, I’ve finally  learned that this is my sign that I need to slow down…

That Friday morning, I also got up early to take my little Jean in to have her comprehensive exam, dental cleaning and some dental x-rays ordered by the ER vet. The poor little girl had to have two teeth extracted.

Still… Did you notice that all week, I only worked out ONCE?!

The Night Before…

After picking up Sophie from the vet and watering down her food so she could chew, she settled in for a long nap. My friend Stacy and her daughter, Delaney, were in town. So we dined at one of our favorite places to share a cheese plate – Enjoy! We also split a flatbread. {That’s kinda Mediterranean, right?}

We skipped our usual bottle of wine and opted for alternative beverage.s We knew we’d be splitting a bottle back at my place anyway!

We stopped and picked up dessert, too. Delaney was asking for cheesecake! And once we popped the cork on that bottle of wine, I enjoyed one of the best raspberry chocolate bars along with it.

We sipped and chatted up until midnight. {Can I just say that when Stacy and I get together we could talk for so many hours that we never truly catchup entirely?!}

I’m sure I wasn’t taking this as seriously as I would a “normal” race. But with Stacy and her four-and-a-half-year-old daughter staying over, I just wanted to relax and enjoy the company. Our plans for the following day were to just go with the flow. Which meant that I didn’t have a normal early “race time” and could even sleep in, as far as race times go!

Race Day…

When I woke, it was chilly, rainy and just all-around dreary outside. Bummer. My hopes of running around Lake Calhoun on perhaps the last beautiful day of the year went down the tubes. Sure, I’ve run in rainy, chilly, cloudy weather before. However, there was no way I was going to make Stacy drag her wee one to sit outside in that while I ran around a lake for 40 minutes before going to lunch with them. Besides, the nice weather that had been predicted was still in the forecast… just not until 2pm.

We still went to Uptown and enjoyed some Punch Neapolitan Pizza and had coffee at the Rustica Bakery afterward, for more chatting, of course! A double espresso is just what I needed to pick me up from this “lovely” weather.

My mother-in-law had mentioned this bakery a couple of years back having heard about it from a friend when she mentioned her son lived in the Twin Cities. I love this place and highly recommend it if you are ever in the area around Lake Calhoun!

After I said my good-byes to Stacy and Delaney, I drank what I realized was my first glass of water of the day. DOH! Then I laced up my shoes and got ready for my World Run Day 5k run around the neighborhood.

I felt a little wonky at first. After all, I’d only run/worked out once that week. But I slowly worked my way up to feeling good and running at a decent pace for me. I got a few side stitches early on, which doesn’t happen to me often. But knowing that they’d eventually go away, I tried to focus on something else.

But then came the horrible feeling in my stomach. Despite the fact that I had enjoyed (too much) Italian-style thin crust pizza over three hours earlier, it wasn’t doing me any favors. Blech. Again, I told myself that the feeling would eventually go away. Yes, I was very uncomfortable for much of that first mile, but it was my fault for overeating and I was willing to take responsibility.

That is when the mental battle began in my head.

Here’s somewhat how it went:

“This sucks! I just want to stop and walk.”

“But you’ve only worked out once this entire week! And you’ve been indulging in a few more goodies than usual. You just HAVE to get this run in.”

“Ugh! But this is so hard today. I just can’t do it! I want to walk!”

“Well, how ’bout once you get half-way, you can stop and walk?”

“Okay, I’ll keep going.”

“But really, you haven’t walked in a race yet. Why start now?”

“Hmm.. That’s true.”

Then I started thinking about the cause I was running for.

What if running this entire race meant ALL of the animals for Homeward Bound were adopted?

Then I wouldn’t quit.

What if Sophie’s life depended on me running this entire race?

Then I wouldn’t quit.

These thoughts kept going through my head that it was enough to keep my mind occupied for a while. At this point, I realized that my pace had been pretty decent. So if I really was struggling and wanted to walk, why not just slow up a bit instead? I gave myself that permission.

And I finished it, without stopping to walk.

That, in and of itself, is success to me!

My time:

HRM – 38:45

RunKeeper – 37:41

I have no idea which one I started first and for some reason had a little trouble stopping my HRM clock. I’ll just split the difference in order to record an “official” time:

38:13

I have one more race scheduled this calendar year. But don’t worry, I’m not hanging up my running shoes altogether! I’m working on some HIIT, strength training and getting ready for my spring 10k.

Don’t forget that I’d like you and anyone else you know to join me on April 21st, 2013 for the Challenge Obesity 5k!

Info here!

Here is a list of my 5k race results for my own personal comparison:

1. 38:54
2. 38:20
3. 38:40
4. 36:08
5. 38:27
6. 37:44
7. 35:35
8. 38:13

• The Event: World Run Day 2012
• The Location: Anywhere.
  • My location: Lake Calhoun Around my neighborhood.
• The Date: November 11, 2012.
  • My Date: November 10, 2012 – 3pm
• Night Before Dinner: Cheese plate and flatbread at Enjoy!
• Pre-race Breakfast Lunch: Punch Pizza
  
• My Time: 38:13
• The Weather: High 60s in November!? Unheard of in Minnesota!
• Attire: World Run Day T-shirt and long running pants – it was too hot for these!
• General Feeling: Frustration, but pushed through.
• Uniqueness: Anyone/Anytime/Anywhere. Supporting a cause that matters to me: Homeward Bound Rescue
• Size: 2435 people worldwide. At the “race” – just me! I like to run alone. I’m alone with my thoughts!
• The Goods: World Run Day T-shirt and bib#
  
• The Grub: Not included. {But seriously, I already had my share of eats that day/week.}
  

What causes do you support and why?

Cheers~
Carrie