How to Run a Marathon in A Mile/Day

We’re on Day 9 of the Children’s Miracle Network #MiracleMarathon to raise money for children’s hospitals across the country - a third of the way done!

Keep track of your work - great motivation & reminder of what you can do!

The concept is simple: complete a mile/day over 27 days for a full marathon, plus one extra mile for the kids. It’s perfect for people like me who can’t ever imagine running a full marathon all at once. I’ve posted before about my marathon/month goal, but this is slightly different in that it’s a commitment for everyday. Everyday you are reminded of the blessings of either never having a child in an emergency room or intensive care or with a terminal illness, or the blessing of the availability of such medical resources for a child who needs them.

But, as the people that we are, the physical, logistical questions arise. You know, the ones that keep us off an exercise routine anyway.  The number one being: I’m busy, when am I going to have time to run/walk/skip a mile per day?

Let’s start with the time element. On a good day, in relatively good health, at an almost brisk pace, it takes about 15-20 minutes to walk a mile.  Give or take a few minutes due to one’s health, affinity for and habit of exercise.  But let’s say, for sake of discussion, 30 minutes. That may or may not include putting on your shoes and drinking a bottle of water when you’re done. Now, where do we find 30 minutes a day?  Here’s nine ideas.

• Before, between, after the school buses – If you are a parent, school buses, carpools, or walking brigades probably dominate your mornings; and depending on the age of your children, your involvement in the morning madness of getting ready for school is little or very much needed.  Look at your morning schedule. Can you go out and walk around the neighborhood before they wake up, in between one school departure and the next? Or after the last school bus pulls off – you keep on running and get your mile in before coming back to start your day. 

• Find 30 minutes before your day starts.  No kids or they don’t need you to get ready for school?  Wake up 30 minutes earlier or skip the morning email read and get it in in the morning.

• While waiting. Parents do a lot of waiting. Kids’ practices, early warm-up before a game, tutoring, music lessons. I imagine non-parents wait around, too. Maybe for a spouse, a friend, your mom at her doctor’s appointment.  What are you doing while waiting?  Instead of fidgeting with that new phone app, lace up and go for a walk. Especially now that its getting into fall, you could go for a good paced walk and not really even break a sweat if you’ve got somewhere else to go.  I even noticed at an airport this summer, mileage and direction signs for a walking path around the airport (I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do with your bags, though.)

• While running errands.  How often do you get into your car and drive across the street or down the block to pick up lunch or a prescription or for a cup of coffee? I’m guilty, too.  Walk.

• The old park far from the building trick. You’ve heard it a million times before and I’m going to repeat it. The other day I had three separate meetings and I parked far in the lot each time.  Counting the six lengths to and from the building, plus two more for when I realized as I got to my car that I had to go to the bathroom, so I walked back to the building, then back to my car, that has to be at least a good half-mile right there. 

• Plan for it. Like you do a dentist or gyn appointment (though you don’t want to do either everyday), write it in your planner. Block off 30 minutes to get in your exercise.

• Commit to other people.  During my kids’ swim practice this summer, I would go running.  I also noticed a few other mothers who were also using this time for walking or running around the neighborhood. Next thing you know, we were heading out together while the kids were in the pool, and saying to each other “yes, I am running tomorrow.”  There are many days I may have sat poolside drinking coffee if I hadn’t made that commitment.

• Participate in children’s athletic events. If you know the sport – get in there and coach or help out with workouts. I coach my daughter’s Girls on The Run team – perfect for making sure I get in my run.  Don’t worry if you know nothing about your kid’s sport.  Many organizations offer training for adults who want to help out, and, if you don’t want to do that, there’s always something you can do even if you don’t have clue about the actually sport. For my kids’ swim meets, parent volunteers serve as timers. You stand at the edge of the pool and push the stopwatch when the kid starts and stops. Then you walk to the other side of the pool for a different length race. I usually volunteer as the person who wrangles all the swimmers for their race.  Exercise? Consider walking back and forth across a pool for three hours.

• No kids or no desire to help out with the local ice hockey team? Find your own sport. Whether zuumba, tennis, a running club, swimming lessons. Find something that you enjoy for yourself. Not only will you get in your exercise, but you will require yourself to separate from work, housework, email, and texts and concentrate on you.  And go ahead – count it for your mile. Last week, I clocked in almost a mile during tennis lessons.

Share other ideas in the comments below.  Enjoy your mile!

Always be ready to squeeze in a mile.

My hospital of choice for the #MiracleMarathon is Children’s Hospital in DC. You can make a donation on my fundraising page.  Thank you in advance!

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Currently... panicking, excited, thinking, reminding, starting #JustPiddlin

I wrote my first "Currently..." post last Monday and I think it's a good start to the week.  Join me in considering where you are and looking forward to the days ahead.

Panicking about the fact that my baby first-born is getting ready to turn 15.  I'm rethinking the years, wondering if I've done a good enough job as her mom, and trying to think of all the stuff I need to tell her in the next 3 years before she's off on her own.  And looking for a magic potion to turn back time.  More angst-filled posts to come.

Excited about my son swimming in the state Junior Olympics meet this weekend. He's excited about even qualifying and the cool new warm-up jacket. I'm happy that his hard-work is proving some results.

Thinking about the new #BanBossy campaign.  I get the message - girls should be encouraged to be leaders and not ridiculed or put down for being outspoken, absolutely.  But my little girl is bossy.

Reminding you not to text & drive.  My new phone has an option where text message and phone call alerts do not sound when you are driving, sending a message to the caller/texter that you are driving and will get back to them later. You can set it to automatically turn on when it detects you are moving faster than 25 mph or set it manually.  What's the big deal? It's only a few seconds?  Read more about Jake's Law.

Starting to run and work-out again. I got lazy over the winter. There's still snow on the ground, but it's getting warmer. I'm ready for skirts and need to get these thighs ready, too.  Plus, we start Girls on the Run this week and I cannot get beat by those 8 years old (again).

What are you currently up to?

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We Did the GOTR 5K - Now Keep on Running!

For all the grown folks who are sitting on the couch, wishing they could run/walk/crawl to the finish line of a 5K and explaining all the reasons why you can't do it, take a note from our Girls on the Run (GOTR) team - you can do it!

When we started back in September, the girls were a bit skeptical.  Run how many times around the school field?  We started there with a simple math lesson: the school field is 1/6 mile, our goal is 3.1 miles, 3.1 times 6?  They thought we had pretty much lost our minds as they collected their popsicle stick lap counters and laced on their bead mile markers.  It wasn't long before they got bored of running laps and were ready to hit the street.  Our little band of 25 girls, teachers, and coaches became a familiar sight around the neighborhood at 3:30 p.m.

The color of the year: orange

Indoors, we talked about standing up for ourselves and being positive.  We talked about personal affirmations, finding personal characteristics that we could take pride in.  We pushed the girls to go beyond "I am awesome" and "I can do anything" to get to "I am a good pianist" and "I'm helpful to my mother" and "I'm beautiful."  I do believe that for some of them, it was the first time that they admitted "I am good at math" out loud.  We encouraged them to cheer each other on and say "good job" as they ran past each other on their laps.

Girl Power!  Our GOTR team getting ready to go

For the past ten weeks, twice a week, we've been meeting and talking and running.  Yesterday, we met early in the morning, dressed in our orange GOTR t-shirts and our blue and gray bandanas and gloves, representing our school colors.  Our families came out to run with us and to cheer us on - moms and dads with cameras, younger siblings in strollers, brothers and sisters with signs.  When we crossed the finish line, each girl felt a true sense of accomplishment - she really did this!  And I did, too - this was my first 5K that I've actually run the entire distance - a personal best for me.

Our ribbons of team & GOTR colors

Now that it's all over, I hope the girls will take this feeling of accomplishment with them.  Perhaps, like me, when they are in the midst of something that feels impossible, they'll remind themselves, "hey, I finished that 5K, surely I can do this."  Sometimes it just takes doing one great thing to give you the confidence to do another great thing.  I hope that these girls will keep on running.

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Stop Telling the Kids They Can Do Anything

Maybe we should stop giving our kids the “you can do anything you want to do” speech and actually help them figure out what it is they want to do.

This season, I’m coaching for a girls running program held after-school at the elementary school. The ultimate goal is to run a 5K later this fall.  In addition to the physical activity and training, it’s also a personal development program.  In many of the lessons, we’ve said “tell me something positive about yourself.”  And no less than half say something like “I can do it” or “I can do anything.”  We’ve gotten an “I am better than everyone else.”  We might even get an “I can accomplish any goal.”  And they are cheerful and expressive, too. Raising their hands and saying this so loud and proud.  This all sounds good, right? I mean, we do want kids to feel like they can be successful.  But I’m not so sure they really know what that means or truly internalize that message.

Once they go through these wonderful platitudes, we push them a bit more with some more questions. Great, now tell me what you can do. What’s one of your goals?  The girls kinda look at each other, shrug, and say “uh uhh” in the way that kids answer most questions.

I’m not so sure you can do anything, I tell them. Can you fly to the moon? Can you drive a submarine?  Can you run 100 miles?  No, not today, huh? Alright, so let’s focus on something that you can and want to do.  No-one’s better than everyone else in everything.  There’s always someone better, someone worse, and much room for improvement.  Tell me one thing you do well.

What can you do, be more specific than “anything.”  Shrug, mumble.  Can you bake cookies, are you a good student, do you help your parents?  The girls will think and eventually come up with something they believe they do well, or at least something they would like to do well. Alright, now we’re getting somewhere.

The other day, when we got out to do our mile run/walk, one girl got a few yards from the school, frowned and said she didn’t think she could make it.  What? What about our goals?  Is completing this 5K one of your goals? The shrug, the mumble.  What are your goals, then? The shrug, the mumble.  What if we make running to the corner one of our goals for right now?  Let’s go.  And we started running to the corner.  Alright, so you can accomplish your goals. What’s our next one?

Does this seem harsh?  I don’t think so.  In an effort to make sure our kids have such high self-esteem, we’ve filled their heads with these airy, flitty little banners of confidence without any substance.

I do believe kids should have long-term goals.  But not just “oh I’m gonna do something one day.”  Doctor, President of the United States, Olympic athlete – yes, go for it. But let’s set up some benchmarks along the way.  We’ve got to teach them the stuff that they can actually do right now, the milestones they can strive for right now.   If we want them to have goals and have confidence, we have to help them figure out what those goals actually are and what to be confident about.  We have to teach them how to reach goals.  It wouldn’t be a bad lesson for us adults, too.

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Running A Marathon A Month

I just finished my marathon for January.  I've been having some aches in my heel and leg lately, so it took a little bit longer than usual.  It took 14 days, about 7 1/2 hours total.  

Hitting the finish line in Annapolis

In past months, I have been down to 13 days; getting to 11 days would be great.  In hours, I'm off of a record time by about 5 hours.  The Women's marathon record was set in 2003 - 2 hours, 15 minutes on one day at the London Marathon.  Granted, the record-holder and most marathoners run the race all at one time, but I figure 26.2 miles is 26.2 miles anyway you put it together so I've allowed myself a month.  Why rush?

I've started running 5Ks (all 5 of the Ks sequentially) and wanted to challenge myself to get in more running - for the races, for general physical fitness, to combat all the M&Ms and chocolate cake I consume.  In an online fitness group, I noticed a few of the runners planning for marathons, so many per year or collecting a race from every state - some kind of goal like that.  I decided I would do that, too - a marathon per month.

At first, it sounded like an easy enough challenge - surely, I do that with my "run 3 times per week" plan.  In the first month I kept track, I realized that not only did I not run a dozen times, I didn't come close to 26 miles.  The problem with the "3 times per week" plan?  If I get busy at the beginning of the week and don't run until Friday, I figured what's the point of running on Saturday?  In this structure, there was no way to catch up.  Additionally, "run" was not defined.  Did that mean a 15-minute mile for 15 minutes or a 10-minute mile for an hour?  I could basically make anything count.

  

The goal-setting experts suggest you make your goals structured, achievable, and measurable.  For instance, "I'm gonna run" is not a goal.  (Neither, by the way, is "I'm going to eat better," "One day I'm going back to school," or "I'll get right before Jesus comes.")  But, "I'm going to run 26.2 miles within 30 days" is.

Marathon-length is definitely measurable, and within 30 days was achievable.  At the end of the month, there's no question whether I met my goal or not - I either made it 26.2m or I didn't.  I keep track every time I  get on the treadmill, run around the track or down the street.  As they say, "what gets measured, gets done."

Because I count all the pieces of the miles, I've found ways to fit it into my schedule.  When I feel like I don't have time to exercise, I remind myself that I could easily trade some other mindless, unproductive task and run a mile.  On days I'd rather sit and do nothing, I've run down the street.  While my kids are at sports lessons at the gym or at chorus practice at school, instead of waiting around eating chips, I've run.  I count every mile, half mile, every tenth.  I also try to improve my pace so that I'm pushing myself to get better.

Running has lead me to some interesting experiences and something I've rarely ever done - running and exercising on vacation (even before the marathon goal)!  Crazy, right?  In totaling up my miles, I've run on both coasts - across the Golden Gate Bridge, up the hills of San Francisco, and along the beach of Maryland's Eastern Shore.  And I can even count some European miles - past Big Ben and along a Spanish nude beach (ha ha!)  What a great way to sight-see!

My normal runs, however allow me about 20-30 minutes a day in which I cannot multi-task, cannot answer emails or fold laundry, cannot talk on the phone.  In other words - a few minutes to focus solely on me and the task at hand.  I can actually think.  Wow.  That in itself is a good goal.

What goals have you set for yourself?  What "marathon" do you want to finish?

Golden Run

Ever have someone suggest an idea and you say "yeah, sure, sounds great". And then, when it's time to do the thing, you think, "what the heck did I agree to? Really, I thought this was a good idea?"

Yeah. That's how I ended up here -

That's me - ready to run on the Golden Gate bridge. Another sorority sister suggested it on a FB group page - what do they say about group thinking, peer pressure, and all that? "While we're in San Francisco, wouldn't it be great...". That's how I ended up taxiing over to the bridge with Cheryl from Philadelphia, Anitra from Richmond, and Toya from Houston, after our conference closed for the day, changing from our pink & green dresses to our pink & green running wear and meeting up with about 30 other sorors, ready to make our way over the water.

Cylia, the mastermind behind the plan

Pink & Green runners & walkers from around the country

And when I saw the iconic red posts from the Wharf earlier, I thought "wow. That's high. And it's over water." When we arrived, I marveled, "yeah, that thing is high. And it's over water. And it's cold." The distance wasn't a problem - 1.7 mile across, 3.4 miles in total - because, as I realized, if I get across, I've got to come back. At the foot of the bridge, there's a display explaining how the bridge was built and the engineering behind it's design. The trivia nerd part of me wanted to read it all. But the scared of falling into the water part of me didn't want to know how it could go wrong.

It's a great view up there, if you pause long enough to look back at the city and across the water to Alcatraz. But I didn't stop for long, my view was in constant motion - did I mention it was high and over water? And cold and windy. And I was praying that I didn't get blown over the railing, which was a little bit lower than I expected a bridge railing to be.

As far as things on my bucket list, "run over the Golden Gate Bridge" has never been on there. But like when I sift thru the sand collected in my kids' beach bucket, this is a pretty, surprising little seashell to hold on to.

The other end of the bridge.

I TRI-ed and I finished!

Sometime last year I saw a sign at my gym for triathlon training. Swim. Bike. Run. "I can swim," I thought. "And I own a bike. And I know how to run." So I signed up, to the surprise and amusement of my husband.

And I trained for 12 weeks. I learned to swim - really swim. Breathing, not kicking (important when you will need your legs later), enduring. I rode my bike for miles and miles. I ran on the treadmill, on the street, in the morning, in the evening. At the end of the training course, there was a "mock" triathlon - all indoors. Pool, stationary bikes, and treadmill. It was tough, putting it all together, one behind another. But I did it and was quite pleased with my progress.

Since then, I have continued exercising with some combination of swimming, biking, running, and weight lifting each week. I learned to change a flat. The first flat, took me about 20 minutes. Then I discovered that I was missing a tire lever; next time, it only took me about 5 minutes. I bought a wetsuit. I have participated in a Splash & Dash (swim and run) and a 5K. And I finally got the nerve to sign up for a real sprint triathlon - the Annapolis TriRock: 500 meter open water swim, 12 mile bike, and 5K run.

The night before, I packed up all my stuff - wetsuit, swim caps, goggles, bike helmet, sneakers, socks, energy gels, water bottles, towels. I racked my bike onto my car. And I set my alarm for 4 a.m. The next morning, I loaded the car and drove the hour to Annapolis. As I unloaded my car, I knocked some stuff out (a sign of my clumsiness) that fell directly onto the joint of my toe, which immediately started to hurt and swell. After reaching the transition area, I racked my bike, setup all my gear, and squeezed into my wetsuit. Then waited.

I was in wave 10 - the 40+ year old women. You'd think they'd let us old ladies go first, but them I guess we'd be in the way of the 20 year olds who knew what they were doing. Now, let me say, that I have been really practicing my swimming. Two, three times a week, at least, I am in the pool, swimming somewhere between 16 to 32 laps each time, non-stop, 30-45 minutes. The distance for the triathlon was equivalent to 10 laps in the pool. But it was in the Chesapeake Bay. And it was 68 degrees. And it was raining. And it was deep (a psychological concern, not physical, but it still mattered). And as my daughter pointed out to me - there were ducks in it. And it kicked my butt. This swim was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It took all my physical strength, mental calmness, and reminders to myself that God would not let me get in that Bay if He wasn't going to see that I got out. Although we don't know the day or time when we will die, I told myself that I was not meant to die that day, in the Chesapeake Bay.

I was still gasping for my breath when I got to my bike and pulled off my wetsuit to change into my clothes and put on my sneakers. I strapped on my helmet and headed out for the bike ride. We headed out past the Naval Academy, over a bridge, along some road, and made a few loops. My bike training was paying off. I shifted gears, pedaled hard, and made it up the hills without feeling like my chest would bust open (much progress). I rode through the drizzling rain and finally rode back to the bike finish line.

On the beach ready for a cold water swim

Again, I racked my bike, and unstrapped my helmet. Then took off on a slow jog as my toe throbbed just a little to remind me about the accident earlier in the morning. After a few minutes, my brain started to ignore it and wanted to run this race. My body compromised with a run/walk. I was disappointed because I had just run last week and knew that I could do this, but its kinda hard to run when your foot hurts. By the time I got to mile two, impatience and frustration won over the pain and I ran the last mile to the finish line. As I hobbled into the Medical Tent, the first aid volunteer couldn't really understand how I managed to break a toe during the event. I told her it was complicated and asked her to just wrap it up so I could get home.

It's the next day. My toe is still swollen and sore. My numbers are still tattooed on my arms and legs (my daughter says I look like an escaped convict) and I'm resigned to long sleeve shirts until they finally wash off. I've been rethinking my race. And I've gone over the swim over and over in my head. And I think I'm heading to the pool tomorrow.

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