Unplugged?

My NikeBand quit a couple weeks ago, and the two weeks without it have seemed somehow freeing, as though I had some restriction removed. I wasn't concerned about how many "fuel points" I was burning throughout the day and I wasn't stressing over whether or not the website would be "down" when I would be trying to upload my data for the day. I got the free replacement band in the mail a few days ago and have sent off the defective one, but am waiting to wear the new one to be sure they accept the old as replaceable. If it isn't, I'm sending the new one back, rather than be charged anew for it.
Today I was plugging in my meals to MyFitnessPal and calculating how far/long I had to run to burn the equivalent calories and I was aghast that I was already 300 calories over my "daily allowance" and I hadn't even had dinner yet! Then I realized that my morning smoothie had somehow gotten recorded twice, and I breathed a sigh of relief that I was still "on track."
So I set out in the still-warm evening for my 3-miles run and really pumped it, working to break under 10 minute miles. Three miles later, gasping for breath in the heat and drenched in sweat, I look at the stats on Runkeeper and saw that I had only burned 123 calories. What??!! No way! I looked closer and saw that I had inadvertently selected "Cycling" for my activity instead of "Running." The app thought I was out on a leisurely 6-miles per hour bike ride instead of the intense 10-minute-mile workout I had done. Bleh. So I did a slow jog for 2 miles with the setting on "Walk" to compensate.
This wasn't my first technological breakdown, as my first NikeBand (I'm now on #3) quit the day of my first marathon, cheating me of an all-time-high fuel point moment.
Think the Universe is trying to tell me something? What can I learn from this? Maybe I need to become more of a minimalist--running for the "fun of it" (well, and for the fitness) but not to be so fixated on measuring and tracking and competing. Maybe I just need a watch, and not something that will tell me constantly how many calories I am burning, how many steps I am taking and how many "Fuel points" (whatever that means...?) I've earned.
After a year of tracking my food and exercise on MyFitnessPal--a free website that I really have enjoyed and has helped me to be more aware of what I eat and what it takes to lose weight--I think I "get it" and could possibly continue to eat healthy without the constant tracking.
This past year I have learned a lot about fitness, my body and what it can do (yes, run a marathon as well as place respectably in 2 triathlon sprints), health and nutrition (feeling my way towards vegetarianism), and have reached my ideal body weight goal. I believe it may be time to unplug...

National Running Day

Today is (most likely among many other "national days" celebrations) National Running Day. As this fact was unbeknownst to me when I made the decision last night to run this morning for the first time in weeks, I'm going to label this a coincidence. The slow 2-mile run went well and my previously injured knee felt good during and after so that bodes well. Also coincidentally, my daughter called for advice on running shoes, so I guess the spirit of the day has permeated our subconscious.

“It’s very hard in the beginning to understand that the whole idea is not to beat the other runners. Eventually you learn that the competition is against the little voice inside you that wants you to quit.” – George Sheehan

"Every day is a good day when you run."
-Kevin Nelson

Consecration

 

I've been searching for over a year for a marathon to run. I've done one half-marathon and several 5ks but this would be my first 26.2 and I had a lot of criteria. That criteria has changed over the past few months. At first I was training in my Vibram 5-fingers so I was looking for a trail run, but then I developed foot pain from running wrong and had to wear shoes with inserts so trail running was out. I was looking for something close by, relatively flat, not on city streets and not on a Sunday. Then in September, Rich and I began our callings as temple workers, which is every Saturday morning. Now I had to look for a marathon that wasn't held on a Saturday as well. Good luck with that, you say? Well, I strongly believe in the promises in 2 Nephi 32:9 so I asked for Help in finding a marathon and then accomplishing the goal to run it. I soon found this one and have felt inspiration and help all along the way as I prepare:

• I was worried about what to eat before and during that long of a run, and then I got the same advice from two different people on the same day to use Chia seeds. My son-in-law got me a great recipe for chia/honey/lime water and that has proved to be the best fuel for all my long runs so far.
• I'm not very good about warming up before runs, and I started getting some knee pains. The next day I found in my inbox a video from Care2.com about the best routine for warming up: The Lunge Matrix. This has helped tremendously with my knees.
• After I began using DoTerra essential oils on my feet, my arthritis and foot pains have been greatly diminished and actually go away while I'm running.

Tomorrow is my longest of the training runs before the marathon on January 1st: 20 miles. I'm more excited than nervous and am confident things will go well, as I "run the race set before [me]" (see Heb. 12:1).

There's nothing like new warm-weather running gear to provide motivation to get out and run in the chilly, damp Northwest. I knew my outfit was cool, so I put forth the extra umph to my run so I'd look cool to match. I ran 5 miles and could have kept going...Now I just need a marathon to train for!  Awesome!