Running for a Limitless Life

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I call it freedom, some call it torture! Running was never my cup of tea growing up, it just didn't seem natural as my head would pound every time my feet hit the ground. My whole body would itch and after ten minutes I always called it quits. It was torture, and I always wondered why someone would ever choose to run. "Your just not made to run," I would reassure myself and chalk it up as an attempted failure.

Fast forward 10 years, when I decided to give it another shot! Some of my friends are definitely natural runners, and they seem to float along like a gazelle running through a field! I envy how effortless they make it look. I used to have dreams this was me, then I would wake and realize it wasn't, so disappointing!

My husband started running again and training for an ultra marathon and encouraged me to try to start running with him. I himmed and hawed, for months. I would try to mentally tell myself that I could do it and then end up walking, frustrated and defeated. The pressure from him or anyone else to keep a certain pace was too much, so I withdrew from running again. Embarrassed that I was running as slow as a fast walker didn't sit well with my competitive nature.

My husband had a subscription to Runner's World and I came across an issue one day at the house, so I began reading about running, it began to inspire me. It also motivated and educated me on how to actually train to accomplish your running goals. It was a gradual love-hate relationship in that first year, but I went from only being able to run for five minutes to thirty minutes.  It actually became mentally and physically addicting to see if I could go a little bit farther, a little bit faster. I had never felt stronger in my life. Running became my time to reflect, pray, test myself, empty my thoughts at the end of a hard day. What I didn't realize is this was just the beginning to  living a limitless life that I hadn't experienced before.

My thoughts became more positive the more I ran. Thoughts about life, about me, about how I could achieve goals I had set for myself, one run at a time. My friends that were runners encouraged me to do longer mileage, to push myself a bit harder each time. The races I entered for fun, began to motivate me to train more efficient and kept me on track to accomplish bigger running goals. Now, don't get me wrong I am not winning any races, except against myself and breaking my own mental limitations. Its funny because people would ask me if I ran and I would say well, I slog! Slogging is my term I coined for myself in the beginning. I would say, "well, I am pretty slow, I am a slow-jogger, not a runner!"  And it just turned into slogging! I am now confident and proud to say, I am a runner! I slog through the winter months, but then turn into a runner come spring and summer! Its exhilirating!

To date I have had the opportunity to run quite a few short races and two half marathons. Never in a million years did I think I could run a 5K, a 10K and a 1/2 marathon. We really do set our own limitations and sometimes we let others set them for us. Running for me has set me free to live a limitless life! With every run, I shed mental limitations that I hadn't even realized had crept into my mind over the years! Looking forward to some spring running and running the Rock n' Roll Seattle 1/2 in June!

What is your limitless life motivation? Comment below.

Afternoon At The Park

"Mommy, mommy, I want to play outside today!" It was an undeniably beautiful day today and I too had spring fever! I had been working non-stop around the clock on both of my businesses, being a mom in between, trying to eat healthy, get enough rest and oh yes, exercise! See this is why I called my blog, "The Front Pocket", because have you ever tried to squeeze anything into your front pocket!? It just doesn't have enough room! Well, that is exactly how I felt today, as I was trying to cram a lot into a little time frame...and when you have babies and toddlers, it becomes an even smaller time frame! I often wonder what I did with all my free time before I had kids.

As I swung my feet out of bed to rush into my day, I began multi-tasking immediately. Failing miserably to get a slew of things accomplished, I burned my oatmeal, my morning staple that I try not to go without! So I had to settle for the good ole' peanut butter and honey whole grain toast stand by! Leaving myself a good 2 1/2 hours to get the girls ready and fed, I was still rushing out the door with the kitchen in shambles and the girls in tow, shouting "hurry up" a million times over! Finally we made it to tot time, so mommy could get her hour of sanity/insanity in (Yes, my own insanity workout!). An hour flies by when you have 500 calories to burn and you only make it to 350!

"Mommy, mommy, stop I want to play outside", my 3 year old shouts as she slams her hands to her hips! We will honey, but we can't right now, we have a bunch of errands to do today! "But, Mommy" she says, gazing out the window. I made the mistake of taking the route home that has a lovely view of  the large school playground! Another demand is made to play outside, with a whimper at the end. I finally give in and say, "I will take you to a park today!" I knew I had to keep my promise, not sure what I had committed too, I went into overdrive to accomplish our days' agenda.

On the drive home, I peer into the review mirror at my reflection, wondering if I can save some time by not washing my hair. But then I notice my gray hair emerging from the sides! It's wiry and unruly, popping out all over and so noticeable where I tuck the hair behind my ears that when I wear a work-out band, it just glares back at me! I don't like feeling old and gray hair haunts me with it! I consider a color touch-up when I get home!  I decide its a must! As if I didn't have enough to do already to get out of the house,  I start slapping color recklessly around my hairline and then realize that my 3 year old had wet the bed and I needed to get bedding washed! Hot water, yes, I think for icky sheets! Done!  I head to the kitchen to find the mess I left before heading to the gym! Hand washing the left over dishes and scrubbing down the dried food from the table starts with a full hot soapy sink of water! My hair! I run to the bathroom and the shade is almost black against my skin! Ahhh, I run and throw Dora into the DVD player as I rush to hop into the shower! You have got to be kidding me! Yup, a nice cold shower to rinse away the hair dye! I despise cold showers, especially in the winter,  but it made me hurry! No time to fix my hair, plus I had stained my forehead brown with my reckless use of hair dye, so my fashionable day was narrowed down to what would look good with a hat! I quickly decide my comfy designer jeans, a plain long sleeve tee and my "go to" comfortable shoes that I almost always run errands in! They have saved my back over the years, even though I feel more fashionable in a cute pair of pumps! My pumps are in semi-reitrement right now as I am in the craziness of chasing toddlers around!

After a quick lunch (I actually squeezed in making a nice salad!), I rushed out the door to only hear the plea again, only this time turning into a full blow tantrum! I knew I had to keep my promise! Wait, I forgot my camera! I never go anywhere without my camera! It's not just any camera, its my beloved Nikon D200 that I have captured so many memories for my girls and for others. But today I didn't have time to go back and get it, but I had to! I still had a 2:45 pediatrician appointment that I had to make, but I had to turn around to get it. It needed repaired and it had to be done today!

The drive to town was beautiful, but was accompanied with a very loud version of John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt blaring in the back and in-between kids songs, plea's to go to the park echoed in my ear! My planning cap was on, I needed to drop my camera off and find a park in the sunshine so we didn't freeze, but that was close to the doctors appointment so I wasn't late! As I pulled in front of the camera repair shop, my daughter protested and pointed out this wasn't a park! I told her that Mommy had to get her camera fixed, and to my surprise she said, "just use tape Mommy!" I chuckled as she so easily came up with a matter of fact solution to our dilema! She protested about how I didn't need to go inside, I just needed to take it home and tape it!

Sunny park up next, we had exactly 20 mins to play and for me to keep my promise! My daughter was ecstatic, she jumped from the vehicle and ran to the big red slide! As I stood there watching her climb up, time almost stopped. Breathing in the fresh snowy air, I felt the sun warming my back and I realized I needed this as much as my daughter did. Her infectious laughter filled the air, as she climbed the stairs and went sailing down to the bottom, each time more exhiliarting. From the big red slide to the swing, I let the pressures of life slide off my back as I enjoyed this cold, quick, sunny day park excursion!


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