Staying put. Seeing love through. Walking it out. Hard, but so worth it. Enjoy!!

Download the MP3 here. Listen here.

Don’t Want to Run

I’ve always played the game
Holding back,
not giving all of me
so quick place the blame
A broken man
With an answer for everything

Can’t keep living live in overdrive
Always trying to catch my breath
My soul is tired now
I think I’m losing ground
I can’t help myself

CHORUS
I don’t want to run anymore
I’d rather stay with you and take it slow
With this love I can’t ignore
I’m finally coming undone
I don’t wanna run

A collection of memories
A fading dream
Are all I’ve had to hold
A beaten up photograph
From a moment that
I cannot seem to let go

Our love has been a battleground
Leaving us the casualties
I’ll raise my hand and call a truce
But I just can’t retreat

CHORUS

Am I too late?
Has the moment gone?
Is there a part of me alive in you?
Something I can hold on to?

CHORUS

Finally Free
Anje Dowler/Ben Ward

It seemed so permanent
Felt like forever
They all said “learn from it”
It’ll get better
But walking around in chains ain’t good enough you see
So I cut those ties, the one’s that bind
And it almost killed me
But I’m still standing

Finally free

All my reasoning
Seemed so perfect
Subtle seasoning
Far from working
With no one else to blame walking right into that place
Just let it go, nothing left to know
No more excusing
Done with waiting

Finally Free

Our schedule we’re starting with is a new 10-15 minute episode on Mondays. We spread out social media postings (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram for both) over the day and night. The Twitter postings that tagged the other sister and YouTube worked great as the people responded to all.

On Tuesday having Olivia respond to five comments on YouTube and five comments on the blog. We’ll post to all social media and that will give us another push.

Wednesday we’ll replicate the strategy from Monday with a 3-6 minute episode.

Thursday Hannah will respond to comments with social media push.

Friday we will assemble a curated themed playlist that hits subscribers’ feeds at the end of the week.

Yesterday, the first day, we gained a little over 100 new subscribers. Had close to 700 visitors to blog (only link was directly below YouTube video saying that was where to find the recipe. My goal right now is to gain 250 new subscribers per week: 100 each new episode day and then 50 over the course of the others.

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Episode Day Postings:
10:00: YouTube and Blog go live
11:30: Olivia Twitter
12:30: Olivia Instagram
13:00: Hannah Twitter
13:30: Hannah Instagram
15:00: Olivia Facebook
19:30: Hannah Facebook

All that said, there were some bumps along the way Sunday. It started out so well. I held back and kept my goal pace of around 10:00/mile. My knee held up great and did not hurt. I did have some pain in my other knee around mile 12. I walked a little at a couple of water stations and I was confident I could make it through to the end.

Then, after the Queensboro Bridge, heading onto First Avenue in Manhattan, all my muscles got tight and started cramping. So weird as this never happened on my long training runs. All I can figure is that I was dehydrated and did not have enough salt. I also don’t think I ate enough throughout the week leading up.

It’s been such a struggle with the eating throughout training. On one hand, who wouldn’t want to eat more! On the other hand, after losing over 100 lbs, there is part of me that doesn’t want to lose control and gain it back. This is something I’m working through and I know it contributed.

Miles 16-19 I ran two blocks then walked one. I was starting to really hurt. Around 19 someone came up beside me and began to talk (he was having stomach issues). This was a blessing as it gave me an excuse to walk further. As I got into the Bronx I kept walking as everytime I tried to run my muscles would not cooperate. I really didn’t know how I would finish. Lots goes through you mind in these kinds of moments!

Leaving the Bronx God really sent me some help. A fellow Team World Vision Runner from Australia, Kevin,  came up beside me and we started talking. His knee had given out earlier and he was trying to make it through like me. He and I walked and talked through Harlem for another few miles. It seemed more like a parade for a little while . So many encouraging people in the crowd.

As we got into the Park around mile 24 we decided to try and run and then walk when we had to. We were quite a sight I’m sure as our form was full of pain. As we neared mile 25 we just decided to go for it all the way. Kevin and I kept going through all those pains and I was sure they were moving the finish further away as we ran (another favorite sign: “There is a Finish Line”). The last .2 was TOUGH. I kept repeating the Scripture verse on my GoSport ID: “For the joy set before HIM endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). God so clearly reminded me how powerful and important finishing is. No matter the trial, no matter how many setbacks, no matter the circumstances, FINISH.

My final time was 6:05. If you’ve read here I was originally hoping for a much better time. But I’m not ashamed. I finished. As a matter of fact, as I was praying later in the night I felt God say that if it would have been easier, if everything would have gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have learned that lesson. I wouldn’t have understood the depth and power of FINISH.

I’m so honored to have been a part of this race and this process. I can’t wait to do another marathon so I can do better — I learned so much about me. I’m so blessed to have been a part of Team World Vision and the joy of seeing 26 children’s lives forever tangibly changed.

Thank you all for your support and encouragement every step along the way. I hope I have the chance to cheer you on…SOON!

You need to know my bib #…

Follow me and you’ll know how I’m doing!!

So excited…

Sunday will be quite a culmination. Culminations are good .

Thanks to Gregg Farah for filming!

He said yes, it was swollen and I needed to take it easy so it didn’t get worse. Ir’s an overuse injury so I needed to “underuse” it this week. He told me to cut my runs in half and stop if it begins to hurt again. He also said to take ibuprofen (anti-imflammatory) and showed me some stretches I could do.

I’m happy to report that I did six miles today and no knee pain! It definitely shows the absolute importance of rest and listening to your body. Training for a marathon (or any race, really) is a lot of stress on the body and we need to respect that process. According to Jerry, that’s one of the reasons we train so long…to give ourselves a chance to learn about what works and what doesn’t, to be able to rest and recover.

Thanks, Jerry!

But, I made the target pace I wanted (avg around 9:30). I found this great calculator online (http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm) that you input your fastest 5k (or any other race) and it tells you what you can run the marathon (or any other race) in. It’s very helpful…my fastest 5K about a month ago was 24:43 so it says I should be able to shoot for around 4 hours for the marathon. Yes! So my long runs should be between 9:42-10-42 avg pace. I feel okay going a little faster, but not too much — I know it’s important not to overdo it.

Somebody asked on my last training blog how I went from not running at all to a 9 min mile avg pace. The short answer is just continually running and having a desire to go faster. Some people are quite satisfied with a slower pace and I think that is awesome. There is no requirement that you have to push for a faster time. I just WANTED to be faster. I’m competitive. I love pushing my limits to see what I can do. I’m so excited/thankful that I can actually do that with my body now. At 297 lbs one year ago I couldn’t push much of anything except bigger pant sizes.

So, how did I get faster? I ran the half marathon in April at just over 10 min/mile avg pace. I decided in the time between that and the start of training of the marathon I would try and get faster. So I started doing some interval work. They’re called “Fartleks” and they obviously have a weird name (appropriate with today’s title:), but they work! I would do a mile at 9 min pace and then 1 at 11 min. I also did many short runs like the 5K and kept pushing for a faster time. One particular run with a friend who just did his first Ironman Triathlon (!) was pivotal. He coached me as we ran and I actually did my fastest mile up to that point (around 7:50). I knew I could do it then, so I just kept pushing.

Now I’m doing my Tuesday 5 mile run as a “tempo” run…a minute or so faster than the pace you want to run the race at. For me that’s 8/mile. This is a very hard run but pays off big time when I go my target pace. I then do the long run on Wednesday with some intervals. Right now 2 min fast, 1 min slow with an easy 2 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down. Once again, HARD, but worth it when I feel how much easier it is to run my target pace.

These are just my current experiences…I have SO much left to learn and I’m happy about that. Have you had success with other methods? Educate me.

Oh, and change a child’s life by sponsoring!!