A Proud Mama

We have all experienced our mothers (or fathers or aunts) bragging about us at one time or another. My father-in-law will talk to complete strangers (for hours-no joke) about the success that Jeff and I have experienced on the athletic field. My mom thought that me running a 3.10 marathon was incredibly fast. She thought it was even more impressive that I finished 3rd out of 200+ women. My friend Julie has an aunt who stops people in the grocery store to tell people how Julie went to Kona to compete in the Ironman World Championship. Sometimes the people closest to us will not tell us how proud they are of us, despite the fact they are. They will show it in other ways: talking to strangers, pictures on the wall, the excitement in their voice, or a heartfelt hug or smile.

I now know how they feel and I can call myself a "Proud Mama".

For the last 5 years, I have been coaching a group of adults in the BoldRunning Program. Over the course of the seasons, I have seen them start out as timid runners, learning how to navigate a sport that can be quiet intimidating (especially in Boulder), and achieve success in many arenas. And I am proud of them. This past season was especially memorable for me.

Every Tuesday night I looked forward to seeing my 15+ group of runners. They have been running together for 1-5 years. They have all gotten faster over the years, but they still choose to stay together and work together. They support each other. They push each other. They laugh together and share their own running experience with the group. They welcome new runners into the group. They have a good thing going that they don't want to break up. They are committed to the program and to themselves. They balance life, kids, jobs, husbands, wives, soccer practice, school music recitals, HOA meetings, and parent-teacher conferences. And they deal with me every Tuesday night. They ran more miles then other groups because I had to get in X amount of mile for the day (lucky for them this was during my marathon training!) It got to be a joke about how many miles they had to run on Tuesday nights.

The summer program started in June and went through October 17th. Throughout the program they trained hard, building toward that A priority race. Some experienced set backs and learned how work through disappointment. Life got in the way sometimes. But they kept showing up Tuesday nights (and Wednesday, and Thursdays and Saturday and sometimes Sunday). The trained in the hottest of hots and dodged the big thunderheads. They persevered.

And then came race day.

And I smiled and talked about them to others like a proud parent.

Here are some of the amazing events I watched happen this year (I used initials to protect the innocent, but you know who you are!):

• MDo finished top 10 in a triathlon and ran her fastest BB.
• JS ran her fastest BB and PR'ed at Denver, then got engaged.
• LR PR'ed in Moab and ran a smart race. Negative split the 13.1 miles.
• GN race his first half marathon and reached 40 mph riding downhill.
• HB ran a 2.10 half in Greece while working through some niggles.
• TP learned how to swim and did her first open water swim!
• EJ risked her life to stop traffic for group as they crossed the street. She also won a duathlon and PR'ed at Twin Cities.
• MM ran a smart race in Chicago. She is an awesome role model to her girls.
• GB is a rock in the group. He came out to support the group while he recovered from his surgery.
• PG continues to amazing us all. He qualified for Boston with a 3.57. He is 60.
• TG and SK. The new mom's of the group came back and regained their post-baby fitness quickly.
• CH ran some HARD trail races and lived to tell the stories.
• SM ran a PR at Toronto. She worked hard for this!
• KL knocked 12 miles off her half marathon time and ran 1.41 at Denver
• MDu did it all. She did her first 70.3 triathlon. PR'ed at every triathlon distance. Then ran a half marathon after telling me that she does not like running.
• MF PR'ed at the 5K and 10K. He knocked off 10 min off his half marathon time. I personally think he would have PR'd by more if he did not wear BB shorts.
• JM PR'd at the Heart and Sole Half marathon and then went on to PR on Imogene Pass.
• SL bought his first road bike and race in his first triathlons.
• AC helped a fellow group member change a flat during a race and went on to have a great race of her own. She has challenged herself by signing up for her firs 70.3 triathlon!
• KD ran her long run (mostly alone) around her kids schedule and had a solid Portland Marathon.

I am so very proud of you all! Congrats and thanks for the adventures and memories.

Rock On

JK

The Running Project

Again...long time between posts. No excuses to be made or had. But decisions have been made that will affect the directions of our athletics.

A funny thing has happened-Jeff and I are getting older. And as we get older, we have both started to see life in a different way. In a sense we are getting more mature and wiser-some days are better then others. It is not all athletics all the time. Life is more then that. But we would be kidding ourselves if we were to say that athletics is not a big part of our lives; it still is. There are just other things is life we want to live and experience in addition to athletics.

Done (for now) are the days of training until 2-3pm on the weekends. Done are the days bundling up in layers of cycling gear to brave the wind. Done are the days of dreading of smelling like chlorine day after day. We have taken on a new project: RUNNING.

It has been about 10 years since I have done just that. When I left college in 1999, I gave up my last track season because I already had two science degrees and a job offer. What I didn't know was that I would also give up running for about 2 years because the man I was dating didn't like competitive women. Needless to say, that relationship did not work out, but it did get me to Colorado. I came back to running for a few months, got injured, met Jeff, started competing in duathlons, moved to triathlons, and now I am ready to go back to running.

Then: Junior Year (20 yrs old) at West Virginia Wesleyan. Davis and Elkins XC Meet-1998

Now: 32 yrs old. Mile 24 or 25 at the Erie Marathon-2010

It started this summer when I decided to run a marathon. 12 weeks of just running. I enjoyed every minutes of it-even when I was yelling and cursing on the ending miles of a 20-22 mile run. I finished the marathon, pleased with my first attempt, but wondering what I could do if I did it for more then 12 weeks. I spoke to a few people about it and made the decision-I am going to focus on my running for the next 12-18 months.

And with that decision came more decisions. I reflected back on my college days and what allowed to me to make big gains while running. I found and joined forces with an amazing and supportive group of women. I felt that having a group to support, challenge, and suffer with would be an imperative step in this project. I employed the knowledge of local professionals to help me strength my body as a whole and develop more flexibility--I forgot how much pounding your body takes from just running. And I decided it was time to work on my limiting agent when it comes to running--the mental side.

The decisions and players are made and set in motion. Now it is time to see where this project will take me.

Rock On,

JK