Once my achilles injury got too painful to ignore, I started running slower and slower, while the rest of my running friends continued to improve their pace. Then, on the post-surgery road to recovery, I’ve been much, much slower than everyone I used to run with. Aside from seeing my running group at the beginning or end of a run, I’ve been mostly on my own. Running by myself has given me the opportunity to pay attention to any aching achilles issues, or the occasional flash of pain. It’s been good, needed, and healing.
Yesterday, I ran with an old friend who I used to run with all the time. We ran 4 miles, which was the furthest I’ve run since I ran the Girlfriends Half Marathon injured. Before the run, I told her I might have to stop half way and walk for a bit. (Because of my out of shape lungs, not my achilles!) She’s so easy going, she was totally fine with it, but I was really hoping I wouldn’t need to walk. We got to the 2 mile point and she asked if I wanted to walk a little. You know what? I didn’t need to. We just kept running. During the run, we were talking like crazy, just like old times. I kept expecting to get worn out and want to crash, but I felt great.
It wasn’t until later when I was thinking about the run that I realized how much I missed running with friends. The time to hang out and chat about anything and everything, while doing something physically and mentally healthy, is priceless. It’s part of why I fell in love with running. I think running with friends makes it easier to forget about being tired or sore, or any looming responsibilities you think you should be working on. You get into chatting and the time, and miles, just fly by.
So yesterday’s run was definitely slower for my friend than her usual pace, but it was perfect for me. I think it’s finally time for me to start running with people again, even if it’s for their recovery runs so they don’t mind going slower for me to keep up. Haha! I’ll get up to speed eventually.
I went white water rafting yesterday with my son and husband. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while and I just hadn’t made it happen yet. Lately, I’ve been feeling like I need some adventure in my life, maybe even some good, healthy fear. I’m a wife and mother, a professional, and a student (currently on break), so if something isn’t planned or able to be under my control, it doesn’t happen. Insert your control issue jokes here. Yeah, I know I have control issues and I know I’m ridiculous sometimes, but let’s be real, my control issues aren’t going to change anytime soon.
Besides being an awesome family day, the white water rafting experience was specifically intended to be time spent outside of my comfort zone. (See? Planned.) I knew the river we were going to raft had an optional cliff jump and falls at the end. The falls aren’t major to experienced white water rafters, but to the rest of us, it’s pretty intense and many people choose to get out of the raft and walk around the falls rather than going through them. I told myself ahead of time that I was going to do both of these optional things, but I think I kind of expected to change my mind once I was there.
So when the time came to jump off a cliff 20 feet above the river or walk around the jump and meet the others at the rafts, I almost kept walking. The guides were telling us that it’s important to jump off the cliff, not just walk off the cliff, because you have to clear a ledge under water. They said don’t do it unless you’re confident in your ability to somewhat aim your jump. Ok, so I wasn’t super confident in my ability to aim my jump, but I was confident enough.
Aven and Jon had already jumped so I let a few people go ahead of me to give me a little more time. I think I just gave myself more time to panic, but at the time, I was gathering every shred of boldness I could muster. I was getting scared, really scared, turn around and start walking after all, scared, but when I got to the front of the line (again), I leapt off the cliff and braced myself for impact. Seriously, I can’t express how uncharacteristic of me this was.
The climax of the white water rafting run was the falls at the end. It happened so fast, there wasn’t enough time to panic. I was looking at the river and then almost immediately after it registered that the river disappeared from my sight, we were going into our practiced “get down and hold on” positions.
We were completely under water at one point before the raft bounced to the surface. I felt a jarring hit to my helmeted head. I thought it was strange that the water felt that forceful to my head, but afterward when we were comparing experiences, we realized that Aven and I hit heads. Pictures later confirmed it. It made more sense after that. Thank goodness for helmets!
So the day of white water rafting was a huge success. We had some great family time, I got a pretty good workout and a really fun adventure. There is definitely something to be said for doing something that scares the bejeebies out of you, something that proves (even if only to yourself) that you’re not an old dog who can no longer learn new tricks. Maybe there are more unexpected feats in me after all. It’s going to be fun to explore new experiences!
Photo Courtesy of Skirt Sports
Nicole DeBoom is CEO of the women’s fitness clothing brand, Skirt Sports, and creator of the Skirt Chaser race series – she’s an athlete, a successful entrepreneur, an innovator and really, just one of the girls.
With the Skirt Chaser coming to Vancouver, WA this Sat, 8/7, I had to get the low down on Nicole and the popular running event. The Skirt Chaser certainly isn’t your typical 5k. It’s got a few elements that set it apart from the pack.
First, there is a staggered starting line. The women, or the skirts, start. Then 3 minutes later, then men, we’ll call them skirt chasers, start. Nicole was a professional triathlete and she competed in a couple of races, such as the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon and the Boulder Creek Triathlon, that had staggered starts. She had so much fun with this kind of a start and “beating” her husband to the finish line, when she began developing the Skirt Chaser, she knew she wanted to include this level of excitement into the concept of the race.
Here in Vancouver, we have the Girlfriend’s Half Marathon in October and it’s such an amazing women-only race. It can be hard to think of a running event that includes men as empowering for women, but that’s exactly what Nicole pulls off with the Skirt Chaser – An exciting, high energy, empowering running event for women AND the men in their lives.
While the men chase the skirts, it’s challenging for the women to see how far they can get before the top men start to catch up. That’s if they catch up. According to Nicole, there are “no clear favorites.” Sometimes a man wins, sometimes a woman. Listen up guys, I can tell you that we have some damn fast women in the area. If you plan to win, you’ll really want to bring it!
I asked Nicole why she chose a 3 minute lead and I learned a little trivia. Did you know that 3 minutes is the average difference between elite runners? Nope, I didn’t know it either.
Another detail of the Skirt Chaser is the Skirt Sports running skirt that participants receive. That’s right, no boring technical tee to add to your collection. And when a girl’s all dressed up in her running skirt topped off with a little summer 5k sweat, what better way to celebrate than with a fun block party. Skirt Sports designs each race course specifically with the beginning and end in mind. It needs to be the perfect location for a block party afterward and Esther Short Park definitely fits the bill.
Nicole will be at the Skirt Chaser this weekend. She’s the emcee for the fashion show afterward and she’ll be ready to mingle. Party on, Nicole. Party on, skirts and skirt chasers.
What You Need to Know:
Race Date: Sat, 8/7
Time: 6pm
Place: Esther Short Park in Vancouver, WA
Packet Pick Ups: Thurs, 8/5 at Fit Right Northwest in Vancouver and Fri, 5/6 at Fit Right Northwest st Fit Right Northwest in Portland.
It’s not too late to register! Click here to register.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about participating in the event, or helping as a volunteer. I am glad to put you in touch with the right person.
Once my achilles injury got too painful to ignore, I started running slower and slower, while the rest of my running friends continued to improve their pace. Then, on the post-surgery road to recovery, I’ve been much, much slower than everyone I used to run with. Aside from seeing my running group at the beginning or end of a run, I’ve been mostly on my own. Running by myself has given me the opportunity to pay attention to any aching achilles issues, or the occasional flash of pain. It’s been good, needed, and healing.
