Race Recap!

So, our first 5k has come and gone and we learned a lot from the experience.

We approached the day having done very little in the form of training. Ira went to Israel at the beginning of June and both of us went off the tracks as far as diet and exercise were concerned. That pattern continued when he got back and we halfheartedly tried to get back on track before the actual run, but didn’t really succeed.

Nevertheless, race day came and we decided we were 100% committed no matter what. We headed to the Distillery District really early on Sunday and picked up our running kits and wandered around doing stretches and preparing ourselves for the run. It was very easy to get excited and pumped up with crowds and crowds of people getting ready alongside us. We lined up and took off at the starter pistol.

We did a combination run/walk – more walking than running because I got the dreaded side stitch about five minutes into the run and it stayed with me the entire time. I told Ira to go off and do his best but he was stubborn and stuck by me the whole way. I know he could have done so much better alone, but he supported me like he always does and reminded me what a good partner he is. We finished the run together in about 45 minutes, which is long for a 5k, but a great starting point to our future runs together.

Some of our key takeaways from that day are:

• We really enjoyed the whole experience and competitiveness of the day
• Being prepared can make a world of difference, but being committed and not  backing out shows strength of character
• Learning from our mistakes is important – next time will definitely be an improvement
• We are doing this for us, and for the right reasons and we will do it together
• We definitely want to do this again!!

We are planning on doing the Zoo run at the Toronto Zoo on Saturday, October 16. That leaves just 12 weeks to get our butts in shape. We are hoping to shave 10 minutes off of our 45 minutes, so let the training begin!

~Lisa

The Power of Reading

I believe one of the most important aspects of working out is the mental side of it.  You can not be truly committed to a life changing physical experience without having it straight in your head.  I also believe that there are many stages to the mental work outs.  When you first commit there is a gung ho attitude that can not stop you, and as you keep moving along it wears down, that is only natural.  Look at how you work out, to move past plateaus and lulls you have to adjust your work outs correct?  Well changing your mindset is just the same. This is a barrier you have to realize for yourself, it might be a revelation in the middle of a work out, or a song lyric, recently it came to me from reading a book.

Dirk Hayhurst is a pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays, but as a career minor leaguer, he took his life and career in his hands and put them in the middle of a railroad track.  I found Mr. Hayhurst  on Twitter and immediately took an interest because of his whacky sense of humor, intelligence and candid way he was allowing fans to see into his life at a time where he did not know if his career would keep going as he was headed under the surgeons knife.  His posts for the most part were funny, it was an interesting way of dealing with a very serious situation.  While reading more about him through his site I saw he was writing a book.  When it came out I bought it.  It is a fairly quick and easy read but ingrained into it is wisdom that is disseminated to the reader by the simple and eloquent telling of a story.  The book has the feel just like that closing scene in 300 where King Leonidis’s Captain is telling the story around a camp fire; you can feel yourself hanging out with Mr. Hayhurst just shooting the breeze as he recalls the great stories of his career, and the complicated and enlightening events that have brought him to where he is in life.  Although my story does not relate to his in most aspects, the area that I found most cathartic while reading is when he recounts dealings with family, and his introspective realizations of who he is.

How did this help me you ask?  While I was reading this I was going through a period of mundane commitment to my workouts, I no longer viewed them as wicked changing my life, it was up at 4:30 work out, and I was starting to lose steam, my food was slipping and I was falling into the same old bad habits when it concerned family, work and relationship.  It helped me in two very overt ways.  One, it helped me deal with the fact that yes families are people and that it is ok to question your feelings without feeling guilty.  This is a great way to deal with issues going on in your mind and body, and it helped me realize a few things about my relationship with food.  The second way BullPen Gospels helped was seeing how he realized what he was doing to himself was his problem he had to deal with by himself.  No matter the support system, positive or negative, they can only take you so far, and you and only you are accountable for your actions.  This has taken me some time to digest and actually took a bad food cheat day to fully realize both of these.  I am now attacking this week with vigor and a renewed zeal.

So Mr. Hayhurst if you are reading this, congratulations on finally making the show, making the New York Times Best Seller List and persevering and most of all thank you for helping me along my journey to my big leagues, a happy and healthy life.

PS. The bullpen recounts have made me want to get back into my catching shape, find a team to volunteer to be the bullpen catcher

~Ira~