Against the Wind

Forrest Gump:. My Momma always said you got to put the past behind you before you can move on. And I think that's what my running was all about. I had run for three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours.


Another accomplishment is in the bag with a successful 9 mile run this Sunday! I am starting to see that running these distances is more mental than anything else for me.
Physically, I have figured things out. I know my own pacing….I average about a 10 minute miles while I am doing long runs, and I have tried to add some interval and tempo running during the week to better prepare myself. I know the right stretches for my foot and calf to keep my plantar fasciitis at a minimum and I have relented to taking an ice bath after every long run over 6 miles. Again, I hate to admit it…but my husband was right! The ice bath is brutal, but it is a lifesaver for my legs. During my long runs, I now carry water and these amazing little Gu Energizing gummies to get me thru my run. I have tried the gels and jelly beans (both of which are gross in my opinion) so finding these gummies has been a huge help. They also taste just like yummy fruit flavor gummies! Besides being an added boost of energy, these gummies are now a tasty little treat that can be the closet thing for me to “look forward to” midway through my long run each week!

What I have discovered is the mental game I have to play with myself as I take out on these long runs. It’s like my mind has not caught up to where my body is at physically. I used to think it was my body that was trying everything it could to keep me in a non-running state, but now I am more and more convinced that this is all mental on my part. Initial thoughts while running I have include “I don’t have time to run this much;” “This is going to take forever to run this long;” “Can I really run 13.1?!;” or I think about where I am on my run and how far I have to go before it is all over. This goes on from about miles 2-4….and once I am past that, I usually feel like I can go on and run forever. Maybe not as long as Forrest Gump ran, but the quote I have from the moving inspired me.
This week I battled with running against the wind for a good share of my 9 mile run. And with that kind of time on my hands to think while jamming to my favorite music like Black Eyed Peas and my all-time favorite running song “Rhythm Nation,” I also thought about the movie scenes from Forrest Gump that dealt with his running. Maybe it is mental/physical fatigue for not eating enough before my long run this last week….but I started to wonder how I could apply this famous movie quote to my life. I tend to be pretty hard on myself; I have been known to be critical of how I have handled situations in the past or how I could have done things so a situation/event could have turned out differently. Sometimes I find myself fighting “against the wind” because I have a hard time letting go and moving on. Maybe that is what is wrong with those first 2-4 miles that I run….where I am fighting with myself instead of just letting go. Do I have control issues? No doubt indeed! Do I find that I still continue to beat myself up about situations in the past that I didn’t handled well or didn’t succeed at? Absolutely. Do I have a hard time letting go? Amen! Can a person find spiritual/emotional growth on a 9 mile run? I’m starting to think so!!
With a hectic life including wonderful blessings like a loving marriage to maintain and nurture, two amazing boys, a great (but challenging) career, and keeping all other life afloat with the house, bills, etc. This time to run is all about me, my music and my route. As painful as it may be….the time to think seems to give me some center and peace. Hopefully it won’t take me 3 years of constant running to put the past behind me like it did for Forrest Gump. Could it be that running is good for the body and soul?! For this non-runner on a journey to a half marathon….I believe the answer may be yes!

8,9,10

Mitchell showing Collin what potty training is all about....he's such a good big brother and of course, a silly little boy!

My little cheese Collin. At 22 months he can sing his ABC's and count to 10! Not always in the right order, but still pretty amazing for his age!!

As the time for the 1/2 marathon gets closer, the miles on my long run continue increase. I am now running distances that I never thought I would achieve in my running. Before the March snow storm hit last weekend, I was able to log an 8.08 mile run! More importantly, it felt good and I felt like I could have kept going at the end so I was able to finish strong. I'm not breaking any records, but for a girl that hasn't ran a day in her life past junior high track....averaging a 10 minute mile over his amount of distance was a satisfying feeling!!

Next up? You guessed it, 9 miles this weekend and 10 miles (gasp) the following weekend. Physically, I feel like this can be done. I continue to stretch and ice my foot....just ask my family and the ladies in the counseling center about how often I can be seen doing both of these!! The bigger conflict now is time. Balancing work, family, the house and finding time to run this distance is a struggle. We have wonderful family and great neighbors who are great with the boys and have allowed Chad and I to be able to do some long runs together which has been a huge blessing. At this point, I find myself planning for our long runs 2 weeks in advance!

It's hard not to feel like I am being selfish at this point. For Chad and I both to run separately, recover, stretch and ice....takes a huge chunk out of our day! We both want to spend as much time as possible with our amazing boys and I don't want them to feel cheated. But I also know that by staying fit and healthy, we both have more energy to play with them. And mentally, I have found running to be a great stress reliever from my sometimes very crazy job as a school counselor.

As I run out of fingers to count the amount of miles I am running each week in preparation for the 1/2 marathon, I also find myself feeling more and more like I am on a balance beam as well. Here is to surviving the long distance runs and keeping my mommy guilt in check during the coming weeks!!

The luck of the Irish?

This weekend marked a second big test for me. Not only was I running just a bit over 6 miles (6.2 to be exact) but I was also running my second 10K. My foot had felt great all last week and I've continued to stretch, ice and rehab to the best of my abilities. However, Saturday my foot was sore and about 30 minutes before race time....it hurt. After walking all over creation in the cold for the St. Patty's day parade proceeding the run and and a busy morning with family and of course the kids....I was anything but ready to run as 1:15 approached.

I can't say it was a good run, but I finished. I also believe I did a bit better than my first 10K which was in the sleet and ice of December. However, it didn't feel great and mentally I was not in a good frame of mind. Now it is time to rest, enjoy spring break and of course get back to training. After my run on Saturday, I am hoping things will only be up from here. My foot didn't bother me at all during the race, but mentally it was a rough run to say the least. I can tell that my short runs during the week aren't cutting it. I am praying for warmer weather so I can start running in the evenings after supper now that daylight savings time as kicked in. Finding the time and balancing everything at home always plays into the scenario....good thing I have such great support from my wonderful husband! :)

Good or bad...another race is in the books! It's time to look forward and stay positive!! I've already come further and accomplished more than I ever would have imagined. No sense is stopping now.


Chad is amazing...he is my wonderful husband of almost 9 years, my best friend and now my biggest supporter to finish this goal!




The St. Patty's Day 10K crew! We're all also signed up for the 1/2 marathon in Lincoln!

Collin enjoying the cold but very fun St. Patty's Parade in Aggieville

Daddy walking with Mitchell's preschool in the parade

Bumps in the road

My sister in law Christa and I after running the 5 mile turkey trot in Kearney over this past thanksgiving. She is also signed up to run the 1/2 marathon in Lincoln!!

Since my last post I have had good news and bad news. Since I can be pessimistic....I will start with the bad.

Bad news: After e-mailing with my PT friend Brenda, I took a week off from running. I continued to nurse a sore left foot and after running an easy 2.5 miles on it last Tuesday only to have the pain return that night....I knew her recommendations were correct and I needed to follow them. I also decided to call and make an appointment at the Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic to have things checked out. I was pretty bitter about having to take the week off and have been upset about missing my 7 mile long run this past Saturday. Needless to say, I was anxious for this appointment today to hear if I could return to training or not!

I have been trying my best this past week to take care of my foot. I did lots of icing, and massaging with a tennis ball under my foot at work. The soreness has slowly gotten better so I did some x-training on the exercise bike at work both Monday and Tuesday night being sure to ice afterwards. I've had no pain exercising (or running for that matter) at all so I was encouraged by this....but again still wondering what the doctor would say today.

Good news: I have been cleared to start easing back into running! After going thru my first set of x-rays on my feet and left hip, I was diagnosed with some mild plantar facitis due to the fact that I have not been stretching my Achilles tendon (calf muscles) enough. Or really at all for that matter sometimes! I will continue to ice and again not push to hard too fast and hopefully be able to return slowly to my training schedule. It was good to hear there were no signs of a stress fracture or of any starting and I was given some good stretches to use to hopefully improve my condition.

The moral of this story for me was making time to stretch! This is hard for me to do after school with such limited time to get a run in before picking up Collin...but now I will make time and hope that as I look to run another 10K next weekend that I can get through that 6 mile run without another break down!!!

Rebellion

My partners for the 1/2 marathon....husband Chad and friend Shana


As of February 22nd it is now 69 days until the Lincoln Half Marathon! My Valentine’s Day present from Chad was a thoughtful card and our entry receipt for both of us in the race. So it is official….the money has been paid and we are registered to run 13.1 miles on May 2nd. I now have 69 days to train my mind and body for something I never would have considered attempting until recently.

This weekend Chad I and were able to run together on Saturday thanks to our new neighbors and friends down the block who recently moved who watched our boys. It was a treat to actually run with my husband for 4 of my 6.05 mile course. I have ran this distance before when I ran a 10K last December. However, after that race my entire left leg was killing me as I had to immediately do a quick stretch and get ready for Chad’s Christmas party for work. So for this mileage I was prepared to have the stretch and recover time needed afterward. I took the advice of my husband and decided to experience my very first ice bath after the run. This was a religious experience to say the least!!! But I have to admit that my legs felt great after this and more importantly, during my run on Saturday I felt like I could have kept going at the end of my 6 miles.

So adding this distance is going to be a piece of cake, right?! Wrong! What I wasn’t expecting was for different parts of my body to unexpectedly start rebelling against me! I’ve had to adjust my training schedule this week due to it being conference week at school (gotta love these two 13 hour days I have coming up!) My plan was to run an easy 2 or 2.5 miles on Sunday since I will not be able to do any training on Monday or Wednesday. However, starting Saturday night and continuing Sunday and into the day today I am now having issues with my left foot. This lends me to two questions….1) what is up with the left side of my body?! This seems to always be where my problems are….somewhere on my left leg, hip or now foot!! And 2)why does my body feel the need to rebel against any attempts I have at health, maintain a healthy weight and/or fitness?!?

I have been icing my foot at home and work as much as possible and obviously did no running or training on it yesterday. But now worry begins to creep into my mind…..from this point on I will be running further than I ever have each week. Is my body up for 7 miles this upcoming week and the additional miles I will add each Saturday before hitting my peak of 13 miles on April 12th?! The best training schedules in the world can be followed, but is my body truly made for this?

I guess I can only do two things while I ponder these questions…….ice and pray!!

Do I really need to follow a training schedule?!

I have officially ended my first week of “training” for the Lincoln Half Marathon. And after much debate with my husband, I have conceded to following a training schedule. Maybe it was my lack of understanding when it comes to preparing for this kind of event, but I have had a hard time thinking I needed to follow a plan for some reason. For almost a year now, I have ran 5 days a week on a consistent basis. That should be enough, right?
Apparently I was wrong! And I have to admit that I have been pretty stubborn about this for quite some time. First off there is been the issue of time. It has been a pretty large sacrifice for me to block out just 25-30 minutes to run during the work week. Finding time to add anything else in has been next to impossible. Cardio is what I thought was most important for me, because I was wanting to burn calories in the most efficient way possible. This process seemed to work perfectly for me and I saw no reason to deviate from what was working for me.

After announcing my plans to run a half marathon, I was fortunate enough to have some great dialogue with a friend from high school who is now a physical therapist and avid runner. After several e-mails back and forth with Brenda, I have finally given in…..I need to follow a training schedule. Her expertise as a physical therapist and 15 years running experience was something I just couldn’t argue with. And of course….she said the exact things Chad has been telling me all along. I hate it when he is right! :)

Brenda and Chad have set me up with a good plan, now I just have to execute that plan. This means finding time where I thought there wasn’t anymore to work in things like lifting…..and yes I mean more than carrying around Collin in the evening! I have also had to re-work my thinking when it comes to my work-out schedule. I have accepted that I do not need to run 5 days a week, and it is important for me to cross train, and do some simple lifting to help with my strength and stamina. I certainly do not want to face burn out or an injury that would keep me from achieving my ultimate goal in May!!

Being a novice to any kind of weight lifting (other than what I know from my days as a Jazzercise instructor), I started the week tentatively when it came to lifting in the weight room. However, I was given some humorous and unexpected encouragement from some of the 8th graders who were also lifting in the weight room after school. A young man named Andrew let me know that I needed to get my knee closer to the ground while doing my lunges. When I smiled and rolled my eyes he simply stated “you’re really only cheating yourself if you don’t Mrs. Bunger.” Needless to say I got my knees closer to the ground after that! The next day two other 8th grade girls who were in the office came in to see my training plan and laughed with me about my sore legs from the squats and lunges I had did the night before.

Sore legs and all, I am ready to stick with my training program! I’m cutting back on running every day, focusing more on strength, and making the most out of my 4 run days. Tomorrow is my first “long run” of 4 miles. Since I have ran this distance on a consistent basis, I am ready…and now I am confident that this training will have me even more prepared for the weeks ahead as the mileage on my long run day continues to increase!

Finding the Motivation

Hebron, NE 1984
Julie Williamson and Angela Ammeter....age 7


As I continue my path down the road of a non-runner attempting the unthinkable of running a half marathon, I start to look for my motivation. What keeps me going? Initially, it was weight loss and trying to win our JCMS version of the "Biggest Loser" contest last winter. But now that is all over, so I have set the new lofty goal...but the race isn't until May and I've started thinking during my runs outside where my true motivation is coming from.

Of course I have the motivation of health and wellness. I feel great and I have also found a great way to relieve stress from work so I can be a better mommy and wife at home after leaving school each day. While I am not athletic, I am certainly competitive which gives me a drive to succeed and to not just do something, but do it well. And I can certainly find underlying petty motivational reasons as well. Like wanting to find a certain girl from high school who made the comment that "Angela was too fat to be in show choir" and kick her square in the hind quarters with my size 10.5 running shoes and say...LOOK AT ME NOW!!! We've all got those reasons, those horror stories, and the usual for my life, my future and my family lists.

But then I happened upon a picture today on facebook that still has me fighting back tears. It made me take down a picture in a frame from Collin's room and post it to my 2nd blog as well. Yesterday would have been my best friend from high school's 32nd birthday. Julie has been gone now for almost 16 years. How can this be? I thought about this today as I ran outside in the glorious sunshine.....I have now lived as much life without her and she was allowed to be on this earth with us. But then I really started to think deeper, past the grief moment, past the fond memories of our friendship....and there I found motivation.

Julie was a runner, I always knew both Joni and Julie to be long, lean and athletically gifted in running. I could never wrap my brain around having a love for running like that. I was anything but long and lean growing up with them....I loved music and making people laugh. But somehow, we were great friends. Even though I am now 32 years old and so much life has happened since those days....she has kept me young. Her spirit has always been with me, but I never realized how much so until today when I really thought about my motivation to run. And I can finally say, I am beginning to feel the love for running that I know Julie had.

So here is to my BFF Julie Williamson.....today I run for you.