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Posts tagged ‘Wheaties Fuel’

Sep 22

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A renewed confidence.

I’ve been a grumpasaurus lately. I’m sorry, friends.

You see, when I am sad? I run.

When I am stressed? I run.

When I am mad? I run.

When I am happy? I run.

But I haven’t run in 11 days. That’s the longest I have gone without running in 4 years. No lie. The ONLY reason I haven’t laced up my new kicks and said “screw recovery” is because I want to run the Chicago Marathon in 16 days. My only shot is to ice and rest.

But last night I got hopeful. I participated in the Blue Mile’s “Brew Mile” at 3WiseMen. Basically, you pay $5, run/walk a mile and then get a free beer. And the money goes to Back on My Feet. My friend Amy and I (also a Wheaties Fuel Ambassador) worked with the Blue Mile to pass out Wheaties Fuel to participants. Everyone LOVED the cereal (and honestly people, have you tried it? If you haven’t, hit me up. I will send you some. Seriously, it’s really, really good and great for athletes) and we met a ton of people as we passed out product.

Wheaties Fuel

I was a bit sad in the beginning because I wasn’t going to be running alongside the almost 200 (?) people there, but after having great conversations with fellow runners, I turned that frown upside down.

My friend Jeff, who is an amazing runner, told me without even the slightest hesitation that I am going to be fine for Chicago. He said that since it’s my 7th marathon and because I have already done two 20-milers, that I need to just rest, do some light cardio and let my body heal. He once raced after being sick and taking a couple of weeks off and PR’d it! That’s awesome to hear.

I also met a Massage Therapist who works on athletes and gave me his card. I have already reached out to him because he told me that Achilles Tendonitis is caused by the other muscles in my leg and he can work on them. He got great reviews by other runners so sign me up!

I talked with a girl who had a horrible accident on the Monon Trail and yet is still running. Nothing has stopped her. If she can do it, I can.

I talked with Ashley from The Blue Mile who has an impressive pedigree of running behind him: he’s run a sub 4-minute mile, a 2:15 marathon and has qualified for the Olympics in the 1500. He told me that I need to see a massage therapist, do some shorter, easy runs and then just rely on my base level of fitness to get me through.

Not one person said “You can’t do it.” I met runners who have been there before and who all gave sound advice, but were just as optimistic as me. I left with a wealth of knowledge and a renewed confidence in myself.

Chicago may not be my best race. But it also won’t be my last. If I am going to be a marathoner, then I am going to deal with injuries. I am lucky not to have had one yet.

So as much as I am dying to feel my legs move underneath me, I am being smart. Because Chicago is the goal, and Chicago is going to happen.

 

Aug 30

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Running in undies.

I have had some interesting moments in running. I talked about most of them in my very first post. But after thousands of miles on the Monon Trail, last night was a first. I ran essentially in underwear.

Enough time has passed for me to discuss, so here goes.

You guys know I am a Wheaties Fuel Ambassador. Which means that I have thousands and thousands of mini boxes of Wheaties Fuel and some really cool running gear (The gear also came accompanied by a dead mouse but that’s another story and I’d rather not digress). I have shirts, a jacket, a hat and some shorts. Yesterday, I packed up my new Wheaties Fuel shorts in my gym bag for my 5 mile run after work. I changed in a parking lot and immediately noticed that these things were really quite breezy. Now when they first arrived, I tried them on and thought they fit pretty well. But my teammate Amy told me this past Saturday that they are very uniquely structured, so I was prepared for the lack of coverage I soon realized. You see, they are short.

she wears short shorts

But short shorts? I can do. These, however, have no seam down the sides. Just overlapping fabric up to the waistband.

oh hey. That's my hip.

And when you are just standing around, it’s fine. But now put those feet into motion and guess what happens? The back part flies out to the sides like butterfly wings.

bum flaps?

And the front flaps? Well remember Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs? And how he would tuck his manlihood between his legs before he yelled for the girl to put the lotion on its skin? Well that’s where the front flaps went. So now I am running with what looks like mud flaps from the back, flying with the wind and underwear from the front, exposing all thigh and hip.

Now if I looked like this and ran like this? This would be acceptable running attire.

rock those undies Paula.

But I don’t. And I don’t.

So, with a bit of a chuckle at the fact that I was essentially running in underwear, I quickly decided to turn my 5-miler into a tempo run. Because maybe if I ran faster, people wouldn’t have a chance to really examine my lower half while passing me.

All was going as planned. I made eye contact with enough people to know that if they noticed the copious amounts of skin I was unusually showing, they weren’t judging. But then I got to Broadripple Avenue. In rush hour. At a stop light.

A musical ensued. I ran past passerbys who pointed and laughed. Runners with spandex capris and longer running shorts approached me with jazz hands. And the people in cars jumped out of their vehicles, lept into formation to start a choreographed dance to the tune of a song about my winged undies.

Ok, so that’s not what happened. But it really should have.

After 5 miles, despite feeling quite uncomfortable with how much leg and hip I showed to all of the Monon, I had to admit: those shorts were quite comfortable. Maybe Paula is on to something?