Yoga, running in the rain, and the Time Traveler's Wife

You all are probably wondering what in the heck is up with this title? Well, let me tell you...
You see in Yoga there are times when the instuctor tells you to be in the present. You see she wants you to clear your mind, and focus on being right there in that moment. Not the past, not the future, but in the here and now. I will admit that I have a tiny little problem with clearing my mind during yoga. I have too much running through, like 'am I doing this right', 'who smells', 'oh, I hope it is not me that smells.' You know just thoughts. And, even when we are supposed to be meditating in shivasna (have no idea if that is the correct spelling) I sometimes find myself thinking of shopping lists, dinner, work.
But, last night while running in the rain, I had a mini-revelation while thinking about the book 'The Time Traveler's Wife.' Of course the basis of the book is a time traveler who travels to the past and future, he doesn't have much control over his traveling, and he travels more during stressful times in his life. The reason the book even came to me is I was thinking about a scene in the book where the Time Traveler's soon to be wife is worried because it is raining on her wedding day, and she is wondering if he will be able to get out and run. Of course, since he is a hard core runner, like yours truly, he gets out in the pouring rain and runs. He runs because that is what helps him stay in the present. For some reason running grounds him, and he doesn't do as much traveling. Maybe that is because Mr. Time Traveler, like me, doesn't have much trouble focusing on his breath, the sound of his feet, and letting his mind go blank when he runs. I find it to be a tremendous stress reliever, also. Obviously, during this time I was thinking about this, I wasn't letting my mind go! But, I do know that some of the best runs that I have are the times when I get out there and the miles just seem to tick off, the time passes, and I am lolled into a meditative state. It is one of those few times I get what the yoga teacher is trying to tell us about being present in the moment. Maybe this is what some call the 'Runners' High.' But, I think it is just having a high state of being in the present, and in touch with your body. And, I know that during those times the stress simply melts out of my body, and I only focus on my breath, and the powerful feeling of only being present in that moment.

Run Hard

"The other girls in your age category aren't taking it easy today."-quote from Andy and Brian any day that one of us girls says we are going to take it easy today.
This always cracks me up for some reason. I even used it this weekend on my aunt at Race for the Cure!
Race for the Cure
I rode my bike down from Veterans' Park to arrive just in time for the timed 5k. My aunt and I decided to stick together (with my uncle always just appearing behind us here and there.) So as she started to get tired during the last mile of the race, I pulled out that quote on her. I don't believe that she found it as motivating as I did. So I used a new tactic, I found people I thought we should beat, and pointed them out to her. Like this, see the man with the fanny pack, he can't beat us, or see the guy with the crazy a** headband, there is no way we are letting him beat us. But, all in all we had a solid finish of 28:30, not quite a PR for my aunt.
After the timed 5k was over we started looking for my Mee-Naw and her friend. They were both survivors who were coming out to do the 5k walk. They turned out to be fairly easy to spot because they were both wearing pink hats! We got all lined up, and we walked the 5k with them. My grandma's friend Jean was so cute, she even jogged a bit. We had a lot of fun, and the ladies seemed to be so suprised by how many people came out for this event. So it was a really neat experience to be there with them, especially to see their delight in getting the pink carnation at the end of the walk! And, just in case anyone is wondering they are 79 and 80 respectively.
That evening was the Ladies First 5k. I had hopes for this 5k, I thought I would get close to my PR of 25:30. But, no luck, I came in at 27:30. My aunt won her age group, and my uncle won 2nd in his age group! So that was at least exciting.
So next on my agenda is running the Tulsa Run with my family. My cousin and I have decided to aim for a 1:25. So we will see!

IT Band

I have been in a little funk lately. My IT band has been bothering me, I haven’t been sleeping as well, I have been sore…you name it, I feel like I have complained about it. So of course, I have decided that instead of actually resting my IT band, I needed an immediate cure! Bring on yoga (which I go to on a regular basis anyways), the foam roller, ice, ibuprofen, elevating, and the worst of all an IT band brace. I mean seriously, who wears those things…well, me apparently.
So I have started back to running, but due to the fact that my pain seems to sneak up at mile 3 or 4, I have decided that I would do the treadmill. You see, I am optimistic. If I go out running, I would go on the 6 mile loop just because I think that I can do it. Then what would happen is I would have to limp back to my car. I have no boundaries, so I had to do the treadmill in order to avoid the painful 2-3 mile walk back to my car. So let me tell you that the treadmill is boring, especially if you can’t figure out how to use the TV. At our gym the TV is turned on when you plug in your headphones…it will not work if you don’t plug in the headphones…Seriously. I was so mad…I told the guy working the gym that day, well, what if I want to watch TV and listen to my ipod. He just shook his head and walked away. So instead of listening to his advice, I continued to push the button on the tv, just in case I could trick the system. Which does not work, and leads you to having to take your headphones off many times just to explain to people that yes, you are aware of how the contraption works, and you just don’t like it.
So I finally ventured out to run outside with my friends. It was okay, of course it hurt, and I felt like there were old ladies in walkers passing me. But, I was able to get in about 5 miles, only having to walk back 1 mile, whoo-hoo! Saturday found me at a group run with Runners’ World. So the marathon group was supposed to do 14, and my friend asked if I would be running 14 miles. And, I started laughing hysterically, because the thought of running 14 miles seemed like the equivalent of me becoming a brain surgeon. NOT EVER GOING TO HAPPEN! But, I just replied that I thought I would hang out with my half marathon runners on their 7 mile run. Which may have been optimistic, but since they kept a slower pace, I was able to hang in there with them until we stopped at the last water. Then I had to walk off the tightness that formed during our stop, but I was able to begin running again, and finish out the 7!
But, now if anyone has any suggestions on how to get over my paranoia about running with others I would appreciate it! I am worried I will have to walk back, or being going too slow for them.