"Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power." -Benjamin Disraeli

The other day I asked my friend Joe, who is running the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler next weekend, what I could do to help him out. His (abbreviated) response was "Have you written a blog lately?"
I answered with "Is that how I can help you with your race? Is write another blog?"
He said "You can help everyone."

In all honesty, being sidelined with a running injury has left me void of inspiration to write. Until last night when the President of our Great Nation came on the 'tube' and announced with certainty that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. The man that changed the world for every breathing American on 9-11-01 and for years to come, exited this world by the hands of an American. As I began to fall asleep, I started to see pictures of the Twin Towers in my mind and the smoke and ash that billowed out of those skyscrapers is a vision that has been permanently impressed on my mind. I also thought about how so many people never made it out of those towers that day and that those that did received an involuntary and eternal scar.

My darling friend Vanessa was there that fateful day when the towers crumbled into what we know today as Ground Zero. When I say "there" I mean, she was working out at her gym which was underneath Tower #1 when the first plane hit. While she didn't hear the explosion under the tower she saw the effects when she emerged to the streets of New York. Being new to the area and not knowing what to do, she went to her place of work. A short time later she was in her office "kitty-corner" from Tower #2 when the second plane hit; guided by firefighters and co workers she left her building to find utter chaos had taken over her world. She lost and found her thoughtful co-worker who guided her to the last train out of the Financial District moments before the towers made their way to the ground.
Vanessa had been training regularly and running seven to eight miles a day before 9/11. Some time after this tragic day, her gym reopened and they were told it was safe for the members to begin working out in the facility again. Which she eagerly did. However, the air filters didn't function as they once had and Vanessa developed severe asthma. This made running extremely painful and impossible. She would stop and start again but eventually took a hiatus from running entirely. She said to me that she felt "defeated" as she wasn't a natural born runner and the added pains of asthma put a halt to running....for the time being.
I have stated in a previous blog that our decisions in our toughest moments define us. While I wasn't there to share Vanessa's life changing experience, I can tell you that knowing Vanessa now is an experience that everyone needs to have. She is currently training for a half marathon. She arrives diligently each week to put in her long miles with the Running Evolution Half Marathon Group as well as taking a "Speed Class" during her work week. When she is out of town, she still does her workouts and puts in her miles abroad. She is one of the most determined athletes I am fortunate enough work with; she is also one of the sweetest! You don't hear negative comments come from her mouth ever and she maintains a great sense of humor! You would never know that Vanessa was there on that dark, dismal day by the happiness that she exudes. She made a decision to not allow her circumstances determine her joy in life or her joy for life.

So whether running is your "thing" or not, we all face adversity or undesired changes and it is how we decide to go forward that makes us who we are. As Dr. Laura Schlessinger puts it "...circumstances around me do not make me what I am, they reveal who I am."
I have my own lesson to learn here. Just because I have my own 'circumstance' by being injured doesn't mean I should stop 'helping others or everyone.'

Thank you Vanessa for sharing your story. You are so brave on many different levels! I am inspired by you daily and so proud of you!

"Be bold...Live Life!"

Live Life: Keep Moving

Live Life: Keep Moving: "Keep Moving I'm hesitant to add yet another running related entry to my blog. But I feel this is such a huge part of my life and it's where..."

Keep Moving

Keep Moving
I'm hesitant to add yet another running related entry to my blog. But I feel this is such a huge part of my life and it's where I am at so here you have it!
This morning was my final 20 miler on my training schedule until the Eugene Marathon. The past week or so I haven't been feeling all that awesome; my left foot has been kind of plagued with a recurring issue. During the training of the past few marathons, my left foot/ankle gets tired and sore and just plain hurts! Fortunately this time, the ankle hasn't visibly reacted, ie - gotten black and blue or swollen. I have managed to make it through all of my workouts this week but with a twenty miler staring me in the face I was a bit nervous. However, I go until I fail and this was not going to be an exception to the rule.
It took the first ten miles to get 'warmed' up and during this time there was a lot of negative self talk going on in my mind. I preach a lot against this. I am constantly telling people that no matter what happens that they need to stay positive. I firmly believe it but for some reason this morning, I struggled with my own advice. Very lucky for me, I was amongst three fantastic other runners and friends so there was plenty of distraction and my legs kept moving, again, LUCKY!
The second half of the run started much better than the first half, physically. My mind was still not excited about having another ten to go but I did my best to ignore it. Before I knew it we were beyond 15 miles and well into the final five. Finally we were back to my car and my GPS watch told me I made it!
I wish I could share with you that I had a moment this morning where I had a revelation and made a decision to be positive and push forward. Along with some glorious finish where I picked up the pace and finished strong. But I don't. In fact, all that I can tell you is that it hurt, I was sore and I wanted to be done! This morning, I simply just kept moving.
Sometimes that's all we can really do is just put one foot in front of the other and keep moving. Running is a funny thing, it carries a lot of parallels to life itself. Life is hard. Sometimes it comes easy but many times, it does not. There are obstacles, aches and pains but nonetheless, it brings a lot of benefits and gifts abundantly. Some days we blow through the finish line and other days, we crawl across it. We always manage to get there.
As we all face a new week, let's start by putting one foot in front of the other and see where it takes us.
Be bold - Live Life

-Tara

"When You Cross the Finish Line, No Matter How Slow or Fast, It Will Change Your Life Forever" -Dick Beardsley (Spirit of the Marathon movie)

Last weekend I went to Washington, D.C. to watch my friend Amber run her first marathon. For several months, we chatted via email and phone as she prepped for her race. She learned about pacing, tempo runs, chaffing, gels, sports bras, epsom salt baths, NSAIDS, endorphins, and eating for her long runs.
She worked hard; battling the cold weather, running on a treadmill, cross training her heart out. And, oh, did I mention that she is a stay at home mom to her two adorable young children, Charlie & Isabella?? So, she also mastered a balancing act!

I took the red eye Thursday night and arrived in our nation's capital on Friday around lunch time. After a quick shower, there was a knock at my hotel door...it was Ms. Amber along with her husband Chuck and little Charlie. This was my first face to face meeting with Amber; I had met her online through Facebook. Throughout emails and phone calls we became good friends. It was so great to see her face in person! We had a fabulous lunch and went over details for the race the next day, when she and her friends were going to pick me up, where Chuck and the kids would meet us on the course and what she needed to do that night to be prepared for the next day. I would be with her for the first 20 miles. (I am training for a May marathon and needed 20 miles that weekend so it worked out well.)

The next morning, Amber and her friends picked me up and we took off for the start line. The traffic was ridiculous about a quarter mile from the start line so Amber and I hopped out of the car and hoofed it to the starting events. After the starting gun went off, It took about 20 minutes to cross the start line but we were off before we knew it. We started out at a moderate pace and pretty much held it there. Amber set the pace and did an excellent job of settling in and not pushing it; which is a very common mistake among all marathoners, not necessarily first timers. I was mostly there for moral support but also to make sure that Amber had what she needed for a successful race. Secretly, I was also there to watch an evolution happen; because as someone who has run a few marathons, I know that there is always a surprise for everyone when they choose this distance. (More on this later.)

Somewhere between mile 8-10 Amber's nagging injury started to, well, nag. She held it together till the 1/2 way mark where we stopped to stretch it out and get her fueled up. At this point, she knew that she would be out on the course longer than planned but she confessed that she was OK with this. A few times we stopped to walk to get her hip stretched out; through all of this she stayed positive and determined to do another marathon. Most first timers that face this kind of adversity typically curse the holy name of "marathon" and swear that they'll never do it again! Not Amber! She stayed cute and positive and took her time. Mile 17 brought a big smile to her face as we approached her husband and kids. We took a quick hello break and moved on. Another 3 miles and we were greeted with a big pink sign held by a tall blonde; our friend Theresa! Theresa was our friend from the Facebook group "Fit For Life" who happened to live about 30 minutes away from DC and made the trip in to cheer Amber on!! Life is full of gifts!

I left Amber at mile 20 with the best pep talk I could give, which she didn't really need because she had already figured it out! Theresa and I hopped the metro back to the finish line. We watched Amber come through the finishing chute with perfect form and a big HUGE smile on her face! I don't know about Amber but I was crying! I was so proud of her!

A lot of people chose to run a marathon for a variety of different reasons. Some want to cross it off their bucket list, some have been runners for awhile and want to move to the next distance level, some do it because their friends are training for one, and sometimes...or more times than we think, people take on the marathon because they lost a bet. Regardless of the reason, every single person that chooses to run a marathon gets more than a 26.2 mile run.

There is always a point in the race that forces the runner to make a decision. They have to decide if they are going forward with their commitment. Most of the time this decision comes later in the race but not so late that it doesn't seem like they have a million miles left to run. Usually it's about 6 miles to go but regardless, it feels like the second coming of Christ will happen before the finish line is in view. Every muscle is tight, sore and achy. You have to check to make sure your feet are still attached because you can't really feel them anymore. In some cases, your ability to see clearly no longer exists and the mile markers look blurry. And as Amber plainly put it, "That was more painful than childbirth!"

I remember last year I was running the last few miles of a marathon with my friend to keep her encouraged. She kept saying "Is that the finish?...is that the finish?" I just kept answering "almost." I didn't want to disappoint her because I knew what she was feeling and what answer she really wanted to hear. After all, you train for 16 weeks to prepare your body for this day. At many times, you feel like you've taken on a second job and you don't see the paycheck...well, not for 16 weeks anyway. Your partner starts to feel neglected because you're out the door every free moment to log more miles. Your grocery bill has more than doubled in size and so has the dust on your window sills. Because who wants to bust out their duster after a 20 miler on a relaxing Sunday?

Nonetheless, somewhere between armpit chaffing and the fat guy that is clearly not in shape but IS ahead of you a choice has to be made. Move forward? Or give up? In this moment, whatever choice you make, it will define who you are. As Deena Kastor (at least I think it was her) said in the movie The Spirit of the Marathon, "Sometimes the moments that challenge us the most, define us."

While no one can go through this experience for you, I can tell you from my own personal experience that it will change your life. Not unlike life; when we choose to meet the hard times head on instead of side stepping them, we learn so much about ourselves and view everything in a much different light. We see ourselves and those around us differently; we demand more from ourselves and have more compassionn toward others that are struggling. Recently I have had some emotional battles to take on and a friend of mine said to me, "Tara, You have got to attack this situation the same way you attack your marathon - head on! And Merry Christmas!" (As much as I hate to admit it, he was right and that was by far the best Christmas present ever.)

Kathrine Switzer is an inspirational, athletic woman. She was also the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with a bib. She shared her take on the marathon in the aforementioned movie like this: "Triumph over adversity, that's what the marathon is all about. Because you know that there is nothing in life that you can't triumph after that."

Ultimately, I didn't fly to DC to help a friend run a marathon; I flew to DC to watch a life change. I was not disappointed. Great job Amber!
"Be bold - Live life!" -Tara

Mondauk to Marathon

Mondauk to Marathon:
Because I am an athlete, specifically a runner, people tend to assume that I have always been active. In my case, this could not be further from the truth. It wasn’t until I got some disappointing news from my doctor at the ripe age of 26 that I had high cholesterol and I needed to change my habits. Which meant, no more trips to Mickey D’s for the 2 for 1 special on Big Macs, cut down on the sweets and that investing in a gym membership wasn’t such a bad idea. I honestly had no interest in doing any of these things but I knew I should. At the time I happened to be dating someone who cared about health and fitness. He also seemed to care about mine as well because he finally said to me one day, "When are you going actually join a gym instead of just talking about it?"
Darn!!! Nothing being called on the carpet by someone you’re trying to impress in the first place…why don’t ya just add another layer of pressure! Coupled with an eye roll, I joined a local gym.
One of my girlfriends was a weightlifter so she let me borrow some books that helped get her into this fitness nonsense…errr….I mean, business! Fitness business!
As time moved on, I continued to weight train, and took cardio classes at the gym and I saw results. I was much stronger than I ever thought possible and more importantly my cholesterol numbers really improved. I even had a group that I ‘lifted’ with at the gym but I wanted to find a way to burn more fat. So I decided to start running. Mondauk Park was near my workplace that had a dirt running track around it. It was a mile long and had ¼ mile markers. So wearing my cute Nike workout outfit and my CD player in hand, I took off….for about 1/8^{th of a mile. I wish I was kidding but I’m not. I was sucking air so hard people were staring and my entire body hurt and felt like it was burning! Quite honestly, nothing was more painful than this.}
I don’t remember how long I ran that day or if I even finished that mile. I do know that I kept at it, 2-3 times a week I went to that park till I could complete a mile. Pretty soon, I was up to 3 miles. I also spent time running through Wissahickon Valley Park which had ½ mile markers. I finally got up to 6 miles at Wissahickon! I almost threw a party!! After that, I never really looked back. I did get together with some gym members and we ran together on Thursdays and held each other accountable to running (hills) each week and sometimes on the weekend. We also worked out together during week and took cardio kickboxing classes together.
I entered my first race in April 2005, the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in Washington D.C. A co-worker that was an experienced marathoner offered to create a training plan and let me pick his brain. I spent two months training for this race and got ‘lucky’ enough to experience some of the crappy D.C. weather ever. Wind that would blow rain sideways as we’d run over the bridges. It was a tough 10 miles but after I crossed that finish line in less than 90 minutes (which was my goal) I felt like I could conquer the world! After this experience, I was hooked on running races. I signed up for the Virginia Beach Rock n’ Roll ½ Marathon and the Philadelphia Distance Classic (also a half marathon 2 weeks later). Both were fairly successful by reaching my goal and running them under 2 hours. Next up, the wicked Marathon Distance!!
July 9, 2006, I pinned my bib on; No. 547 and stood at the start line of the Seafair Marathon in Bellevue, Washington. My family had mapped out meeting places where they would have GU, Aleve, a wet towel and water on hand for me; along with a camera and a video camera. (My family included, Mom, Dad #1, Dad #2, Aunt Dana, Friends - Shelley and Alan, later to join was my sister & nephew) My ‘coach’ had continued to support me through the half marathons and created a plan for me to train for this full marathon.
I was pretty nervous at the start line. How was I going to accomplish a full 26.2 mile race? Seriously! Sure, my training went extremely well for a first timer and I had followed all the rules that ‘coach’ had set out for me but how the next four hours were going to go was a complete mystery. The gun went off and thank goodness my mother was there to distract me with a video camera and loud voice screaming "Go Tara!" I acted excited and immediately began the self talk: ‘I have a long distance to go. Start out slow.’
Well, I had no choice but to start out slow because the first 9 miles were up hill!! OMG!! I became the little engine that could working my Big Mac Butt up the hills. I met my parents shortly after the 9 mile marker. Of course, this had to be in front of a McDonald’s! For the first time in my life, I did not want to be anywhere near that place. Puke o rama! I got my stuff and got outta there!
The next time I saw them was just before mile 13; almost the half way mark which of course, was a the top of a hill. Oh goody, goody gum drops! Gum drops? Yuck again!
About mile 20, also at the top of another hill, I saw my mom and aunt waving and cheering and I couldn’t help but smile! My dad told me that after that spot it was downhill till the end. Well, he was wrong because Shelley met me at mile 21 and she was also perched at the top of a frickin’ hill!!! I said a short ‘hey’ and continued on. After this point, so many people that had been running about my pace were starting to die. While I can’t lie and say I was bursting with energy, I wasn’t necessarily struggling either; not like they were. With each runner that dropped off I felt stronger. At 25, I was getting pretty stinkin’ tired! My childhood friend, Alan, joined me and had grabbed a sports drink for me and began jogging next to me. He said to me, "Ok, Tara, I’m going to run with you for a bit."
"K." (That’s all I had. As a side note, Alan was wearing khaki shorts, flip flops and carrying a travel coffee cup.)
A full mile passed and I saw a hill in front of me and I was like "Do I have to run up that?"
"Yeah, I think you do."
"Uuuggghhh."
Before I knew it, I was at the top of that hill and Alan dropped off saying, "This is it Tara! Go get ‘em!"
I was in the last moments of the marathon and the crowd totally re-energized me! I barreled through that finish line like a wrecking ball. 4:08 finish time! What made the moment sweeter was my sister crying handing me roses and my nephew grinning from ear to ear so proud of Aunt Tara!!
Less than 5 years later, I’ve put a few more marathons and several shorter distances under my belt. I also coach kids and adults. I feel that if I can pass on my experience and knowledge to others that maybe their world will change just like mine did: for the better. I am closer to my family, friends and more importantly, myself.
See, we all have to start somewhere and it doesn't happen overnight! So quit thinking you can't or won't be good at something you've always wanted to do. Because you can't spend the rest of your life wondering if you'll be a good runner, swimmer, snowboarder, etc. WHATEVER!!! Get out there - Live life, Be brave!

Live Life: Joyful Tenacity

Live Life: Joyful Tenacity: "Joyful TenacityOne of my greatest passions in life is kids. They are so full of life and fearless, for me, it's hard not to be motivated by ..."

Joyful Tenacity

Joyful Tenacity

One of my greatest passions in life is kids. They are so full of life and fearless, for me, it's hard not to be motivated by their energy. For the past four years, I've had the opportunity to coach kids at the club level for Cross Country and a couple of seasons of Track. With their ages ranging from 7 -1 4, I've seen many different maturity levels and personalities but they all seem to hold a desire to work hard and to work together.

At the beginning of practice, the kids show up eager to play and see their friends. They chit chat, goof off and tease each other through the dynamics and stretching sections of the workout. However, when it's time to run, the gloves come off! They are all business. The chit chat ends and the conversation becomes about “splits” or their fastest 5K time. They put every ounce of their heart and soul into each step. Their little faces turn red and sweat pours from them and soaks their clothes. They just push harder and harder.

When they toe the line at a meet, they bring a level of determination that it is tough to match at a Master’s race. They race like it is the first and last race they’ll ever participate in! A lot of times they cross the finish line exhausted, beat up and sometimes crumpled on the ground or bent over puking! They know they’ve executed everything they practiced; pace, technique, and strategy. They have given every last fiber of their being into that one race.

This is why I admire them; I’m motivated by their strength, their fearless attitudes and their dedication to the goal. I am continuously inspired and amazed by their excitement for living! Without even knowing it, they set the example of how we (adults) should be living life. We should meet life with the same fearless focus. Whatever our goal, occupation or passion is we need to apply the same determination that kids do. The odd thing is that we always hear “that adults need to set the example for their kids.” While I agree with this wholeheartedly, I tend to learn from their example more often. Whenever I train for a race or lace on a timing chip, I am reminded of the love and passion they have for racing and for life and it always reminds me to push harder and love it all at the same time!

The truth is I think we all have something to learn from kids. I think we can learn how to be joyful, fearless and tenacious. So the next time you’re in the presence of children, see what you can learn from their excitement and joy for life!

Share with me your inspiration for life or how a child has transformed your view on life! And of course, I’m always open to hear your feedback!

“Life is so much better when you live it!”

-Tara