Courtney's Countdown to Marathon Day

Something strange happens 2 days after your 40th birthday. You realize you are going to have to be proactive in your lifestyle choices if you want the next 40 years to be full of health and laughter. As someone who enjoys laughter a whole lot more than running, here is my story.

Bliss in 10 Easy Steps
February 17, 2012

As you may recall I made a promise to myself that if I accomplished my goals for two week I would treat myself to something. I am proud to say I am up to running 17 miles per week and I can now do a flip turn in the pool. The former a necessary accomplishment if I want to stay on track for the marathon; the latter just something I always wanted to do. I could go on and on about my hard core training schedule but I much prefer to talk about the treats. My last gift to myself was a spa day at the JCC. And this entry is going to be about how you to, with a little planning, can be all fancy pants spa person for under a 100 dollars. You know what, it hardly even requires planning. Consider this entry your permission to look yourself in the eye and say "I am fancy pants damnit and I deserve this day!"

1. Schedule a massage for the early afternoon on whatever day you have decided will be your spa day. The folks at the front desk can do this lickety split. There are bunches of different types massages you can get. This is the hardest step in the whole process, once you do this it's easy sailing.
2. Tell your boss that you need such and such day off
3. The day before your spa day go to the grocery store and buy yummy, fresh, healthy, feel good food. And download some new agey mood music to whatever listening device you use.
4. Review the group exercise schedule. Pick one or two morning classes that fit the tone of the day you want
5. Pack a healthy fresh breakfast, a good magazine or book ( one that encourages you to be awesome), and maybe some herbal tea bags. Head to the JCC. If you are not a Centerfit Platinum user, pay the 10 dollar day fee. Classes and locker room are yours for the day. Access to the locker room is key for this. It has amenities.
6. Do your thing.
7. Bask in the glory of your super fit morning as you eat the breakfast you packed, use the tea they have available or drink your own. This is the time to also put your headphones on and bliss out to whatever music you chose.
8. Use the sauna, steam room and whirl pool until you start to feel mushy. I like to add a cool shower between each of them- it makes me feel European ( I don't know why it just does)
9. Return to the lounge with your book or magazine and have another cup of tea
10. Get your massage

See super easy. Already right there and kinda cheap. Enjoy!

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And Then There Was the Beat
February 6, 2012

The most frightening and exhilarating sentence for adults can be argued to be “I love you” “ We’d like to offer you the job” or even, “We are going to have a baby”. May I suggest another contender?

“I want to get you into the best shape of your life,” said by your trainer.

It’s a very exciting prospect and one I am looking forward to, but I know this will be hard and probably painful. Harder for me than him (I think) and I don’t naturally gravitate to painful activities.

So obviously “being in the best shape of my life” means, in part, to being able to run the ½ marathon.

Yes, I can at this point go on some more about my training, but I would like to discuss music. When you're working out at a more moderate intensity, scientists have learned that music can divert the mind from sensations of fatigue and lowers the perception of how hard you're working. I did not make that up. It came from The Sport Journal. There has been more than one research study that supports the positive role music can play in any activity. It also provides a mental boost to get you motivated to proceed with activity. Again, the scientists say so!

So as Jules plots my super human fitness plan, I’ve taken to making a perfect running playlist.

Here is my idea of a great run. I hope you like it:

• Immigrant Song (Trent Reznor version)
• You Oughta Know
• So What
• Hollarback Girls
• Bullet with Butterfly Wings
• Groove is in the Heart
• Ray of Light
• Right Hand Man
• Sex-o-matic Venus Freak
• Born To Run
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Moves Like Jagger
• Shake Your Body
• Hey Ladies

I would love to get other people’s thoughts on the best songs to run to. Email me your running play lists and I’ll post a new one in each of my blogs! Cly02ale@gmail.com.

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Best Laid Plans
January 12, 2012

So what were you doing last night at 3:11 am? Me? I was coming to the conclusion that one week into my official training plan, I am already off schedule. I have come to the realization that the sense of failure one feels is directly multiplied by the number of hours before you are supposed to wake. So for me, a person who wakes at 6 am normally, my sense of failure was literally tripled.

Here is my January schedule.

You may notice Wednesday of the first week I had scheduled a colonoscopy, which in my world knocks out two (and ultimately I came to find out three) training days. You see, I am not hard core; as Jules will tell you. I am not someone who can fast for a day and do anything other than complain. And after everything was said and done I realized after a short IV of Propofol I will insist on spending the rest of my day in bed with a stack of magazines. Missing that third day, well I have no excuse, other than I am as surprised as anyone with the ease I can talk myself out of running.

Did I also mention 2 weeks ago I fell on my knees? Hard! My right knee has not been okay since. So instead of running in preparation to begin training, I have been using the elliptical. It sounded to me like a good plan at the time, though now I just feel like a slacker.

So now I am now one week off; or as my thoughts went at 3:11 am. “Oh my God!! I am supposed to be doing this training and I already screwed it up!!! I am never going to be able to pull this off. I might as well stop doing anything, and leave town.”

From this experience, I have learned:

• Never make any final decisions at 3:11 am. I have, in the clarity of day, come to some more logical conclusions:
• I don’t love running and I just need to get over it because I can’t beat myself up for the next 5 months. I will be thrilled when I successfully accomplish my goal and that is what I need to focus on.
• I can talk myself out of almost anything, so I better stop paying attention to my thoughts and just focus on my calendar.
• I respond well to incentives so I have decided for every two weeks I do what I planned on, I will treat myself to something.

I have decided to start my month off with a treat. Swim lessons! Do you think Dara Torres follows her training schedule without complaining? :)

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Edgar and Me: A Love Story
December 20, 2011

I adopted Edgar, a beagle/dachshund mix, 7 years ago this February. He and I became a family at a particularly sad time in my life and, I am willing to guess, a sad time in his. He had been at the shelter for 3 months, apparently not endearing himself to many. I saw his face on Petfinder.com, fell in love, threw caution to the wind and adopted him. They cautioned me that he could never be held and was an all-around sour puss. I kept to myself that I knew I was probably in over my head and had no idea how to be a dog owner, let alone how to be the owner of a "bad dog." All I knew is that he and I needed each other.

In less than a half hour, and a minimal donation, we were headed home. As soon as we got home, he started running around fueled by pure joy. This, I foolishly thought, would be easy….a lady and her dog, taking on the world as a team! But as many things involving love, it was not. He was poorly socialized, probably abused, and had an unfortunate habit of attacking anybody with work boots. I was in over my head.

I had no idea what to do. How was I going to make him civilized and keep me out of being evicted? I followed my instincts. I started by taking him for long walks to tire him out. He in turn started to respect my position in the family. This, combined with a freakish amount of snuggling and making up gentle, reassuring, loving songs all the while giving doggie massages, has resulted in me having a best friend for the past 7 years.

I fully recognize that I sound a bit crazy with my dog training technique and I do not want to imply that it will have reproducible results but I am pretty sure Edgar would take a bullet for me. And I know my life would have turned out drastically poorer if I was not needed by him. We have explored Frick Park together, gone on road trips, taken many lazy naps in the sun, he has dutifully assisted in all of my cooking adventures, and he is all around good company.

If I spend any time thinking about how he was discarded and thought to be a hostile dog, unworthy of unconditional love, my heart breaks. All animals, including humans, have the potential to become good loving friends.

As part of the JCC's collaboration with Animal Rescue League, I am taking donations for the 1/2 marathon. Please consider donating as you keep up with my 6 months of training. If you follow this link you can easily donate here. If donations are not in your budget, please consider volunteering for Animal Rescue League. In order to make the shelter work they rely heavily on volunteers.

You may not be aware that the ARL has been around since 1909, takes in all animals, not just those deemed adoptable, and has wildlife reserve in Verona that rehabilitates wild animals to return to their natural environment. Most of their year’s three million dollar budget comes from donation.

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Of Friendship, The Pittsburgh Marathon and Jules
December 9, 2011

Last year I went for my semi regular visit to my cardiologist. Before I go any further I'd like to talk about that for a minute. I have a strong family history of heart disease so convincing myself I am a mature, responsible adult I decide I should go with preventative measures; as to avoid a situation in which I am told I need to have a catheterization. Seriously, it's ghastly look it up.

Convincing myself that I am a mature adult has also resulted in me getting a retirement account which is a whole other story of concern.

Off I go as my mature adult self wondering what happened to the girl who drank most drinks out of a red plastic cup and was happy to feel smug by listening to Radio Free Europe in my dorm room while passing around a jar of Nutella (which only added to my worldliness). Anyway, so there I am being very unsmug or worldly in my paper gown when I am instructed to get more regular cardiovascular exercise.

My train of thought went something like this. How dare you! Okay I can see where you're coming from. I may have slacked for the last few years, sure but I had other things going on. It's not that I am lazy I just really like Law and Order. Uh, I can do this, no problem. Oh yes this is a problem! What am I going to do?? Oh I am going to die from a heart attack next week!!

Enter my friends.

4 close girls friends of mine, all with their own health concerns: cancer, depression, menopause symptoms, post partum blahs and I use my increasing panic as a motivator. Without thinking much about the repercussions we sign ourselves up for the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay. After we paid our 200.00 some odd dollars we looked around, stared at each other (seriously you could hear crickets), until someone said " Okay now what". A training schedule got printed out and I, in what I thought was a moment of genius, bought us all hula hoops to work on our core strength. Have you seen the " Hula Girl video"? Come on, she seems very toned. She also is in a pond wearing a Eskimo themed bikini, but whatever, I thought it would be a fun way to build core strength. Have you ever seen a 41 year old woman hula hoop? Best just to say it was ungraceful.

It was at this point Jules entered by life. He was suggested by Marsha to be my personal trainer. Marsha may have a second career as a psychic or match maker, because Jules turned out to be a perfect fit for me. When I recall the time spent training with Jules for the marathon it is usually in a "Eye of the Tiger" music montage. Suffice to say he had me do things I was sure I could never have done. In your face fear and doubt! I am doing push ups, pull ups and plyometrics. Swiss killers, Russian Twists, it didn't matter I was ready to take on the whole United Nations of exercise! My running mileage increased with no injury. I was a runner. A runner!! I had never been a runner and there I was, 41, running in no pain.

2 months passed and it was the day of the race. I had the first leg of the relay. Before I continue I should mention I hate crowds. So there I was with like 20,000 other folks, feeling anxious, very unsure of myself, fighting the urge just to turn around and go home. My friends love me, they would have forgiven me, but the thought of disappointing Jules, who seemed to really believe I could do this, was more shame than I could bear.

My memories are as follows; stranger next to me wishes me good look and tells me I can do this. She doesn't know me, this is a horrible mistake I am not a runner, Bang! the starting gun went off. And so did I. The crowds on the route were cheering! Cheering for me?! Okay I'm doing this. Oooft this is getting hard , but I am doing this. I am doing this! Oh how nice a gospel choir...I would love to stay and listen, but I am running here. What's that, the finish line for me? There's my friend, she looks happy. I must not look like I am dying, I FINISHED. The stranger who told me I could do it sees me and gives me a hug. I was hugged by a stranger and cried. I am a runner.

I returned to the cardiologist. My HDL's which are the good kind are now well above 60. They increase themselves in response to aerobic activity of high intensity. Genetics may have to defer to my running shoes.

I have signed up for the 1/2 marathon in May of 2012, gulp.