I completed my first 25K (15+ miles) at the Frosty Fifty race. For the last week or so, I have been in North Carolina visiting my family. My sister's family, my mother, and my step-father's family, all Southern California natives, moved out here one at a time over the last ten years. I don't get out here very often, so when I do I try to make the most of every minute I am here.
With my mother, one of the things I love to do is cook. She is a fabulous chef and baker, so I love to learn techniques from her. As I shared last week, Sean and I had seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. One of the recurring "characters" in the movie was a clementine tangerine cake. I thought it would be fun to try to replicate that cake with my mom, so we went online and actually found a blog recipe from the woman who created the cake for the movie: Walter Mitty Clementine Cake.
With my mother, one of the things I love to do is cook. She is a fabulous chef and baker, so I love to learn techniques from her. As I shared last week, Sean and I had seen The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. One of the recurring "characters" in the movie was a clementine tangerine cake. I thought it would be fun to try to replicate that cake with my mom, so we went online and actually found a blog recipe from the woman who created the cake for the movie: Walter Mitty Clementine Cake.
If you squint really hard our cake looks like the original, NOT! While our cake failed miserably, my mom was curious enough to want to see the movie herself and watch the cake play an interesting role in the movie action. I have to say, watching the movie a second time made me appreciate it even more. I saw things I had missed the first time around, and I was even more inspired by my vision of the message, "Stop Dreaming and Start Doing." However, I was intrigued to discover that my mother got a different message after watching the same movie. She thought that the movie was trying to tell us that Walter Mitty had that within him all along and that he just had to realize how strong he really was, both mentally and physically strong.
These two views of the message are not drastically different, but I was just as inspired by the idea of both. And last night I had one of those ah-ha moments. To help you understand this, I need to go back a little and give you a few details.
These two views of the message are not drastically different, but I was just as inspired by the idea of both. And last night I had one of those ah-ha moments. To help you understand this, I need to go back a little and give you a few details.
Race completed before 12:30am on 1/1/14 In addition to baking/cooking with my mother, I also try to fit in more physical activities while in the area. Before heading out here I signed up for two races to make sure I kept active to counteract the whole cooking with my mother thing. I signed by for the Running of the Lights, which is a 5.5K run that takes place in a large local park called Tanglewood. The unique thing about this race besides the fact that you run in the dark through beautiful Christmas light displays is that it starts right at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. So less than an hour into the new year, I had already completed my first race of 2014. I ran this race alone, so while I did get a personal record of 28:11 and 196/1180 overall, this was a tough race for me. I don't like running alone, and mentally I really had to fight with myself to keep pushing on. It was hilly, but I am used to running hills at home. I did do well in the end, but it is not the easiest race I have ever run.
And yesterday I ran my first 25K in the Frosty Fifty event. Once again, I was running alone. It was really tough to even get dressed for this one. What does a California girl know about running in temps below 20 degrees?? I woke up at 5:00 am ET (and I have still not adjusted to the time change), and put on a t-shirt, a long sleeve, a light down vest, a wind breaker, long pants, running capris, gloves, and a ski cap. I think I had on more clothes than my entire running group wears altogether back home!
And yesterday I ran my first 25K in the Frosty Fifty event. Once again, I was running alone. It was really tough to even get dressed for this one. What does a California girl know about running in temps below 20 degrees?? I woke up at 5:00 am ET (and I have still not adjusted to the time change), and put on a t-shirt, a long sleeve, a light down vest, a wind breaker, long pants, running capris, gloves, and a ski cap. I think I had on more clothes than my entire running group wears altogether back home!
The truck was completely covered in frost! After getting over that dressing hurdle, I stretched, ate a roll with peanut butter and downed a cup of coffee before heading out to the truck and on my way to the race. That's when I had to step outside into the cold air and the realization that I was going to freeze my never-ending @$$ off. What was I thinking?! For the first time ever, I was actually thinking about jumping back into bed and just skipping this one--who would blame me?! Instead, I pushed forward and drove over to the event location at Salem Lake, where I must admit that until race time at 8am, my brain was constantly trying to get me to rethink what I was about to do. It is hard for me when I am alone with no one to force me to be accountable. This is a reason that I am so thankful for my weekly running buddies--I will not flake on them once I have made a commitment.
My NC run support team Rhonda and Daniel. To my credit, I did not get back into the truck and drive off before race time, and I spent the rest of the run so thankful I did not give up on myself. About 100 yards into the race, I heard someone to my left asking me if I had ever run this race before, and from that point on my new friend Rhonda (who is a Marathon Maniac) ran the entire 15 miles with me. We were a good match for each other--we both like to socialize (i.e. chat) and our paces really supported what we needed at that point. I needed someone to help me keep a better pace for a long run, and she needed someone to keep her fresh, because she was running the full 50K (30 miles). About 5 miles in, Daniel, a NC State Trooper, joined us and we were a team until the end of the 25K. We pushed, encouraged, and distracted each other for the entire race. Before I knew it it was time to run across the finish line and wish Rhonda luck on the second half of her race.
Running of the Lights / Frosty Fifty elevation changes Now back to my ah-ha moment...this morning I rolled over in bed and winced in pain. My glutes were killing me, and right at that moment I flashed back to how truly challenging the Frosty Fifty course was yesterday. Not only was it very cold, not only was I running 15 miles, but it was SUPER hilly. And honestly, it had not even crossed my mind that this was a hard course, because my NC running buddies had made the race so enjoyable. In fact, it was a good 10 miles before I even thought that I was getting a little tired. I didn't even realize how hilly the course was until I rolled over at pain at 3am this morning. If you look at the graphics to the left, you can see how much more challenging yesterdays course really was, and yet, because I was so distracted talking to my running friends, I had no idea it was difficult.
So what my mom interpreted as the message when she watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, was exemplified by my two North Carolina races. When I was alone at the Running of the Lights with nothing to distract me, I let my brain tell me what I could and could not do. In contrast at the Frosty Fifty race, I was so entertained that my brain did not even have the opportunity to have an input and my body took over. I have more inside of me than my brain gives me credit for, and I need to remind myself of that on a regular basis.
Is there something that your brain is telling you that you are not capable of? If so, silence that message and prove to yourself that you can do more than you think you are capable of. Dig deep, because it is already inside of you!
So what my mom interpreted as the message when she watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, was exemplified by my two North Carolina races. When I was alone at the Running of the Lights with nothing to distract me, I let my brain tell me what I could and could not do. In contrast at the Frosty Fifty race, I was so entertained that my brain did not even have the opportunity to have an input and my body took over. I have more inside of me than my brain gives me credit for, and I need to remind myself of that on a regular basis.
Is there something that your brain is telling you that you are not capable of? If so, silence that message and prove to yourself that you can do more than you think you are capable of. Dig deep, because it is already inside of you!
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