Tag Archives: cross country

You Can’t Undo the Past

September 25, 2014 Kim 66 Comments

Hunter had a cross country meet Wednesday afternoon and it didn’t go quite the way he was hoping it would – after the race he was not happy with himself.

As a mom (and runner) it is hard to see him so upset and down on himself over a race that didn’t go according to his plan.

Tuesday after school and throughout the evening Hunter was talking about how difficult the course was going to be for the race Wednesday (they ran it last year). I told him to quit psyching himself out.

When I got to the park for the meet, Hunter seemed in good spirits. I watched the 7th girls, 7th boys, 8th girls and then it was time for Hunter’s race – 8th boys.

7th grade did 1 mile and 8th ran 2 miles (they did the same loop 2x).

Hunter started off slower than he has been running (behind boys he has been beating this year). I ran to a few places to cheer for Hunter and the others. When they started the 2nd loop I told Hunter it was time to start going.

The last time I saw him was a little less than 1/2 a mile from the end and then with about 200m to go – both times I told him to pick it up.

He ended up getting passed in the final few steps when he is normally the one passing others.

Hunter was not happy so I gave him some time to gather himself but once we got in the car to drive home (over an hour) we talked some about the race and his attitude.

He said he wouldn’t be able to stop beating himself up over how poorly he ran. I asked him if he had been struggling while running. NOPE. He was worried about the hills and how difficult the course was so he wasn’t running his hardest.

I asked him if being so hard on himself would change the outcome of the race. NOPE!

I told him that this was one of those things he just had to chalk up to lessons learned and move on.

He learned that he is much stronger than he thinks and he shouldn’t doubt is strength (or me when I tell him to go!!!).

We talked about the meet on Friday (crazy that they race just 2 days later but….) and the fact that it is a much flatter easier course so he can go out and run the way he knows he is capable of.

Mostly I told him that we can’t live in the past – we have to keep moving forward and not let past mistakes slow us down.

Hopefully Hunter is able to put a bad (it wasn’t really bad except in his mind) race behind him and move on!!

Do you beat yourself up for days or just take the lessons and move on?

Happy Friday!!

Kim

Uncategorized

30 Years Ago I Started Running and just Never Stopped!!

September 1, 2014 Kim 93 Comments

30 years ago this week I made one of the best choices of my life – I decided to run track my sophomore year of high school. I signed up for the entire year of athletics and thought I would just hang out or something in the fall since I had plans to be a quarter miler.

My coach suggested that I try cross country. Even though I had no idea what that meant, I decided to go ahead and try it.

The first day we had to run to a nearby park, loop it and run back to the school – about 1 mile. I had to walk 3 times!!!

pretty much the male version of how I looked after that first mile

It was hard but I stuck with it and ended up loving everything about cross country!

And track was even more fun!!!

I went on to run in college on a scholarship.

I road raced my way through grad school and found another love!!! The atmosphere at road races was so much fun!

The past 10-15 years have been less about racing and more about running just because I love it!

The longest time I’ve gone without running in the past 30 years was almost 6 months. In November of 2001 I was near the end of training for a marathon and ended up with a stress fracture in my left hip. My orthopedic surgeon actually threatened me with a hip replacement. Thankfully I healed but it was almost 6 months of no running (actually only minimal walking) – it was brutal for everyone involved!!!

My current goal is to complete 50 miles (or more:) in a race!!!

I’m hoping to keep running for at least 30 more years!!!

If you run, how long have you been running?
Do you have any hobbies that you have done for over half your life?

Happy Tuesday!!

Kim

Fitness, Shoulders

It’s the Weekend!! Time to Kickback and Relax! HaHaHa

September 21, 2013 Kim 34 Comments

Today’s 44 was a different way to try a standard move. I took some advice from Tamara @ Fitknitchick and tried a unilateral move. I did a single arm shoulder press – non-working arm stays extended the entire time (so it is really working!!).

Hold two equal weight dumbbells at shoulder height. Extend both arms up and over your head, keeping weights slightly in front of your head. Keep non-working arm fully extended while you lower the working (weighted) arm towards your shoulder. Press back up to the starting position. Complete all repetitions on one side then switch to the other. (thanks to Tamara for this explanation of the move!)

I thought that 8 pounds wouldn’t be challenging enough so I did 10 pounds – yikes!!!

This move was hard – keeping the “non-working” arm up the entire time makes this move 10x harder. And the 2nd set of 44 was brutal but I kept the same weights so that I could try to be balanced!!!

I remember when the weekend used to mean a little bit of down time!!! Now, the weekend means that I have to do some major planning to make sure we all get to the events and activities we are supposed to!!

Lately, every Saturday has started butt crack early (especially since Friday night football means we are up till at least 11:00 – late for us!!!).

This morning, Chris and I are each judging 2 rounds of debate (part of Jordan’s debate grade – funny how it involves us!!). Hunter has to get to the middle school to ride the bus to the cross country meet before we get home – good thing for friends to come get him!!!

After our judging career ends, we will run home to get Jordan and take him to the high school so he can spend the rest of the day being a timer at the debate tournament. Then Chris and I will book it to Kansas City for Hunter’s cross country meet.

Then…..

Busy but it will all be fun!!!

Jordan is really enjoying marching band so the Friday night craziness is totally worth it. Plus, the football games are always fun!

Band Wear - this is what they wear under their uniforms — Band Wear – this is what they wear under their uniforms

Weekends in your world – relaxing or crazy?

Happy Saturday!!! Relaxing or rushed – I hope it’s a great one!!

Kim

Fitness, Running

What a Difference a Few Years Makes!!

September 8, 2013 Kim 53 Comments

Today’s 43 was designed to help Hunter work on his stride length!!! We did 43 steps/strides at different paces to show how much further you can get when you really use your legs to increase your stride. (Yesterday at the CC meet, Hunter sprinted at the end and had a great finish but he was taking short choppy steps instead of using his legs to his advantage.)

For the 43 we started with a normal walk. After 43 steps, we marked our spot and jogged back to the beginning. Then we did a fast walk and got much further. The 3rd test was a super easy jog – we didn’t even get as far as the fast walk. Then we did our normal run – this was the first 43 that I got a lot further than Hunter. The final test was a full out sprint – I told Hunter to sprint like he did yesterday for the first try and then we did another trial where I told him to really concentrate on his stride length.

After we finished all of our different 43s, I had Hunter do some more so that I could watch him!!!

sprinting but not using his legs to their full advantage

starting to figure out how to lengthen his stride in an efficient way!

This was a fun way to get my 43 for the day because Hunter joined me!!!

When Hunter was younger (especially before he turned about 6!) he spent a LOT of time complaining about his legs being tired!!!

At age 4, Hunter still preferred to be in a stroller (or to be carried – yikes!!!) any time we did much walking (like more than about 50 steps)!!!

Part of the problem was that he had lots of leg aches at night – from about age 3 until age 5, I probably spent at least 3 nights a week up in the middle of the night rubbing his legs. (I totally empathize with growing pains because I have had them most of my life and when I was in high school I spent many nights rubbing my little sister’s legs so she could sleep.)

Fast forward to age 12 and I am so amazed at the difference in Hunter and his ability to push himself!!!

Yesterday at his first cross country meet (and his first race ever!) – he ran the mile in 7:00. I think he will drop that time a lot this season because about 1/3 into the race I was at a point to see him and he was smiling and enjoying himself.

He told me after the race that he knew he could have pushed harder!!!

(They ran 7th boys & girls together yesterday but the rest of the meets will just be the boys in their own race.)

waiting to have his shoe chip removed (yep - even at a middle school meet!) — waiting to have his shoe chip removed (yep – even at a middle school meet!)

My little boy who used to complain about the walk from a parking lot into a building is now a runner!!!

Part of his daily routine these days is to do pull-ups every time he walks by the pull-up bar in our basement. I think he does about 25 a day plus he will just drop down and bust out push-ups at random times during the evening!!!

Every once in awhile I miss the days when I carried my sweet little boy ALL over the place! But, I LOVE the young man that I get to run with now!!! I can’t wait to watch him develop even more during this cross country season!!!

Happy Sunday!

Kim

Core, Fitness

Short & Simple

September 7, 2013 Kim 44 Comments

This morning is not off to a great start and it’s barely 6:00am!!! I woke up with an horrible headache, Chris has drill this weekend, I couldn’t log-in to my site – I need a Do-Over!!! Hunter had to be up before 5:00 to get to the middle school for his cross country meet and we are fixing to head out to watch the meet so this is going to be super short!!!

For my 43 I don’t even have any pictures!!! I just did a crunch with my legs straight up (heels to the sky) – I crunched my lower and upper half (hands reaching to toes) – see simple!!!!

Ok – so, not totally representative of me but at least you can see the move I did!!!

Jordan and I are fixing to head to Manhattan (Kansas!) to watch Hunter (and all the other 7th & 8th grade kids) run in their first meet of the year!! Should be fun!!I’m hoping to sneak in an hour or so at the swim beach later today so that I can just chill before finishing out the day!!