Or - how did I get here!
The world of committing to structured physical activity is one that is totally new to me. I have never ever in my life taken on events that demand that I train myself physically. And as I have begun that journey I have discovered that it is important to reflect on where I have come from. I have realized that I have essentially taken on creating a new "self", one that does not avoid physical activity, and has that aspect of my life be as important as many others.
Growing up I was a skinny little bookish kid who hated gym. I was always really healthy, and was active in the way that all kids growing up in the 60's and 70's were active - we ran around outside, walked to school, and had nice long recesses - but I never voluntarily did structured physical activity. Of course, the opportunities were a lot fewer for a girl at that time. There were no girls playing on my brother's little league team, there were no all-girl soccer teams or anything else that I knew about. I could have done gymnastics (I thought about it - I was very flexible), but classes were few and far between. There certainly were some athletic girls - I know because they picked on me in gym class! - but it was difficult for girls to find ways to participate in organized athletic activities.
Anyway, by the time I was in High School and College I identified myself as "non-athletic." I hated the feeling of "pushing" myself physically, I had no interest in participating in sports, and specifically looked for a college where I was not going to be required to do much P.E. I ended up going to the University of Chicago - which is a great school for skinny bookworms! The social life there revolves around the library for heavens sake! However, as a broke college student, living off campus without a car I still got lots of daily activity. I walked everywhere, and worked part time at an after-school Pre-Kindergarten program, which had me running around a lot. So I was able to stay thin and happy with my body without really taking it on.
A year after college I married my college sweetheart, Tom Gartner, and we settled into life in Philadelphia. We didn't have a car (in fact, for a while neither of us had a drivers license!) and walked, biked and took public transportation. Again, I maintained a fairly healthy lifestyle without having to think about it much. For a while I worked at a really stressful job and lost a ton of weight, but almost immediately after I left that job I got pregnant with my daughter Hannah. I was thrilled to be pregnant, and it totally changed my life and my lifestyle to be a Mom. We moved out of center city to the Northwest part of the city, got a car, and of course I put on some weight. I had three more wonderful children (Will, Annika & Ally), and suddenly I was in my early forties, tired, sedentary & heavier than I would like.
About 3 1/2 years ago I realized that I needed to something about this. My years of taking my body for granted were over - or at least they needed to be if I wanted to move into the second half of my life as healthy and happy as I was committed to. The realization really hit home when we were on vacation in Maine. Every summer we go for a couple of weeks to Southwest Harbor, on Mt. Desert Island where Acadia National Park is. When we are there we really like to take advantage of the all the beautiful hiking and biking there is to do there. Well, we were biking on the carriage trails and I could barely do it anymore! I was walking my bike up hills that had not been a problem for me in the past, I was easily winded - in short, I was seriously out of shape. And this was not OK with me!
For a couple of years I tried a number of different ways to deal with this. I joined Curves for a month or two, but didn't think it was really working for me. I joined my local gym, and was fairly consistent for about 3 months, but then that petered out also. Nothing seemed to be sticking.
Finally I thought I would try running. I really don't remember why this occurred as a good idea to me. I had always hated running my whole life; I basically thought of it as a form of punishment. I hated the stitch in my side I always got, the burning feeling in my legs - you get the picture (and if you are a runner you probably also know the mistakes I was making!). But my husband had been doing it off and on for years, and I was coming to realize that it satisfied some of the most important requirements I had: I could do it when it worked for me, it was an activity I could do anywhere, and it didn't take any special training.
So a little over a year ago, I started the Couch to 5K program. I did not get all the way through it, and was not reliable to keep it up consistently, but I did keep trying on and off all year long. In the process I discovered that, lo and behold, I did not hate running! In fact I kind of liked it - as long as I was taking it easy, doing a little at a time, and slowly increasing my mileage and effort. I figured out that I had been doing it wrong my whole life. Every time I had started to run, some competitive button got tripped in me and I would push myself incredibly hard. What ended up happening is that I got a stitch in my side, pain in my legs, and I hated the whole thing. But if I took it slowly, it was kind of enjoyable to push myself and watch myself slowly improving.
This past January, I was hanging out on the Disboards, reading trip reports, when I discovered that Disney World held a marathon and a half marathon. As a Disney fanatic, I realized that this would be the ultimate motivation - I would finally really take on running, and then reward myself with a race at Disney World!
So now I have registered for the Half Marathon in January 2009, and in addition I am doing the Philadelphia Distance Run (also a half marathon) in September 2008. I also have a number of shorter races scheduled in between. I have become a runner!
Next - how did being a runner go from an idea to a reality?
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Why a Blog?
I feel like an unlikely blogger. I don't read many blogs; in fact until the past few months I didn't really know what a blog was. And while I participate on many forums and message boards, I am almost always a lurker. I have been a member of the Disboards, an incredibly active Disney message board, for 6 years and have only 260 posts!
But I am embarking on so many new adventures in my life right now, that I find I want to write about them, share about them - well, blog about them I guess!
I'm not sure what it is. I turned 43 last summer, but 43 is not generally considered a particularly significant birthday. My youngest child entered first grade in the fall, which is a big milestone, but it did not change my lifestyle too much since she had been in school full time for 3 years already. Is it hitting 21 years of marriage? Some other more subtle milestone I haven't thought of? Well, whatever it is, in the last year I have been gradually redesigning many aspects of my life.
Last summer I decided that I was going to complete being a Course Supervisor for Landmark Education at the end of June 2008 (if you are interested in what Landmark Education does, check out their website here). I have been a Course Supervisor for almost 17 years, and have been the chairperson of the program since 2002, so this was a really big deal. Really after doing this for 17 years, I am not entirely sure how I will feel in July when I am done!
Then in early fall, I decided to start my own travel business. After doing quite a bit of research, and lots of preliminary work, I created Blue Sky Destinations, and became a travel agent. I am associated with one of the largest and best-regarded "host" agencies for home-based agents, Nexion Inc. This is a wonderful new venture for me, and I am loving every aspect of it! I love planning travel for people, and I love the challenges of starting my own business. I have been doing a lot of training (including a Nexion "Boot Camp" in February), and feel ready to take the lid off my marketing and really start to grow my business. This is one of the "adventures" I plan to chronicle in this blog!
In January I embarked on another new undertaking. After a lifetime of being more or less a couch potato, I decided I was going to become an athlete and I registered for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January 2009. I also talked my husband into it as well! This is perhaps the most unlikely venture I could have begun. I have hated running most of my life (and hate really is not too strong of a word) - however, I had flirted with running the previous year with a couple of half-hearted attempts at the "Couch to 5K" running plan. While I was never really able to stick to the plan reliably, I did discover that running was not so bad - in fact, I kind of enjoyed it! However, committing to doing a half marathon, even one a year away, was a much bigger step!
Since then, I have worked my way up to running about 12 miles a week, completed my first 5K race (I'm doing a 10K in 2 weeks), and committed to a second half marathon - this one in Philadelphia in September! More importantly, I have changed my relationship to myself, my body and what I am capable of. This adventure is the other big reason for this blog! I figure if I write everything down here maybe I won't have to bore my friends and family with it all the time!
I am making or contemplating making other major changes in my life as well. After teaching Cultural Anthropology for 14 years at a local small college, I gave them my notice this Spring and I will not be back doing that again next year. We have been talking about moving for a while (and that may happen), but in the meantime we are planning some major work on our house in the next 6 months. I am considering shifting some aspects of my job (I work as the Admissions Director at The Waldorf School of Philadelphia in addition to my travel business). I think the only areas not up for grabs are my husband - not making a change there! - and my kids.
So, in this blog I plan to focus on the two big new adventures I have taken on: my half-marathon training, and building my travel business. The scope of this blog may change if I make other major shifts in my life, but what I want to share with you now is an exploration of these questions:
Thanks for reading!
But I am embarking on so many new adventures in my life right now, that I find I want to write about them, share about them - well, blog about them I guess!
I'm not sure what it is. I turned 43 last summer, but 43 is not generally considered a particularly significant birthday. My youngest child entered first grade in the fall, which is a big milestone, but it did not change my lifestyle too much since she had been in school full time for 3 years already. Is it hitting 21 years of marriage? Some other more subtle milestone I haven't thought of? Well, whatever it is, in the last year I have been gradually redesigning many aspects of my life.
Last summer I decided that I was going to complete being a Course Supervisor for Landmark Education at the end of June 2008 (if you are interested in what Landmark Education does, check out their website here). I have been a Course Supervisor for almost 17 years, and have been the chairperson of the program since 2002, so this was a really big deal. Really after doing this for 17 years, I am not entirely sure how I will feel in July when I am done!
Then in early fall, I decided to start my own travel business. After doing quite a bit of research, and lots of preliminary work, I created Blue Sky Destinations, and became a travel agent. I am associated with one of the largest and best-regarded "host" agencies for home-based agents, Nexion Inc. This is a wonderful new venture for me, and I am loving every aspect of it! I love planning travel for people, and I love the challenges of starting my own business. I have been doing a lot of training (including a Nexion "Boot Camp" in February), and feel ready to take the lid off my marketing and really start to grow my business. This is one of the "adventures" I plan to chronicle in this blog!
In January I embarked on another new undertaking. After a lifetime of being more or less a couch potato, I decided I was going to become an athlete and I registered for the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January 2009. I also talked my husband into it as well! This is perhaps the most unlikely venture I could have begun. I have hated running most of my life (and hate really is not too strong of a word) - however, I had flirted with running the previous year with a couple of half-hearted attempts at the "Couch to 5K" running plan. While I was never really able to stick to the plan reliably, I did discover that running was not so bad - in fact, I kind of enjoyed it! However, committing to doing a half marathon, even one a year away, was a much bigger step!
Since then, I have worked my way up to running about 12 miles a week, completed my first 5K race (I'm doing a 10K in 2 weeks), and committed to a second half marathon - this one in Philadelphia in September! More importantly, I have changed my relationship to myself, my body and what I am capable of. This adventure is the other big reason for this blog! I figure if I write everything down here maybe I won't have to bore my friends and family with it all the time!
I am making or contemplating making other major changes in my life as well. After teaching Cultural Anthropology for 14 years at a local small college, I gave them my notice this Spring and I will not be back doing that again next year. We have been talking about moving for a while (and that may happen), but in the meantime we are planning some major work on our house in the next 6 months. I am considering shifting some aspects of my job (I work as the Admissions Director at The Waldorf School of Philadelphia in addition to my travel business). I think the only areas not up for grabs are my husband - not making a change there! - and my kids.
So, in this blog I plan to focus on the two big new adventures I have taken on: my half-marathon training, and building my travel business. The scope of this blog may change if I make other major shifts in my life, but what I want to share with you now is an exploration of these questions:
- Can I become an athlete for the first time in my 40s?
- How should I train to avoid injury?
- How am I preparing for a distance event for the first time?
- What are the emotional/mental spaces I am going through in the process?
- How is this process impacting my family and my life?
- How am I building my travel business?
- Training, marketing and learning the business from the ground up.
- Mistakes, frustrations and challenges.
- When do I jump into this full-time!
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)