{"id":342,"date":"2013-06-30T05:04:29","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T05:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=342"},"modified":"2013-07-18T19:20:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T19:20:18","slug":"speedwork-smiles-and-sweaty-hugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=342","title":{"rendered":"Speedwork, Smiles and Sweaty Hugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today was a unique experience in my racing career. I went to a race that I was not competing in.\u00a0 I was there purely to provide a cheering squad.\u00a0 And I say squad because I dragged my 3 kiddos out to the course with me.\u00a0 Granted I bribed them with Dunkin Donuts along the way, but the donuts had long since worn off by the time everyone crossed the finish line.<\/p>\n

There was a Triathlon that about 25 of my friends competed in about an hour outside of St. Louis this morning.\u00a0 Although this would have been great prep for the 70.3 I am about to embark upon in 3 short weeks (Oh dear Lord is it really that close? Please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong\u2026crap. No, it\u2019s really that close.\u00a0 Deep breath\u2026)\u00a0 Anyway, I was saying, today\u2019s event would have been a great practice race for Racine, but since I had my kids this weekend, I didn\u2019t sign up.<\/p>\n

On Thursday at Speedwork, a bunch of peeps were talking about it and I considered for approximately half a second that it might not be too late for me to sign up and I could just have my friend Chad\u2019s daughter, Jasmine, watch my kiddos.\u00a0 But ultimately, I decided I wouldn\u2019t have the time I needed to mentally prepare, in order to have a decent race.\u00a0 So I bagged the notion of trying to compete, and settled on being at the finish line to cheer everyone in.\u00a0 As it turned out, THAT was a fantastic idea.<\/p>\n

You see, on Thursday, I was having an awful day.\u00a0 I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and proceeded to stay there for most of the day.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t actually stay in bed, I just stayed in my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad mood. Even coffee didn\u2019t help.\u00a0 Neither did cleaning.\u00a0 Lindsey quirk #7 (I think I\u2019m on 7)\u2026usually cleaning the whole house top to bottom can burn off my negative energy.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t that day.\u00a0 The reason for my bad mood really isn\u2019t important, but I continued to be Little Miss Crabby Pants. That is, until I got to hang out with some of my running buds at Shalini\u2019s neighborhood pool for a bit. The kids played while we sat, and I vented, and we laughed. \u00a0Then I went off to Speedwork at the Marquette High School track and really let loose with the emotions to run it out.\u00a0 Nothing makes for some really good speed like a little anger.\u00a0 After running myself to the point of dripping with sweat during a 400m, 800m, 1200m, 1200m, 800m, 400m pyramid workout, I seemed to be a little better.\u00a0 Having my kiddos out at the track was a blast, too.\u00a0 And then we all went off to Dewey\u2019s with the whole crew for some pizza.\u00a0 We ended up with such a huge group that we needed one giant table and a corner booth.\u00a0 We pretty much closed down the joint.\u00a0 As I sat there eating pizza, with Silas snuggled on my lap while my other two played with Chad\u2019s kids, Dennis and I were talking about the importance of the running community and sharing that with my kids.\u00a0 Showing them that working out and being healthy is fun.\u00a0 Not just because exercise is good for the body, but also celebrating that with good people is good for the heart.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s when it hit me.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been enjoying showing my kids what it is that I love so much.\u00a0 And even more, I\u2019ve been enjoying merging my kids with my community.\u00a0 So I decided I would take the cheering section on a field trip out to Innsbrook to support my friends in their athletic endeavor.<\/p>\n

On the way out to the course this morning, we had the windows down and the radio turned up.\u00a0 It was a beautiful day, sunny skies with some puffy white clouds, a nice breeze and high in the low 70\u2019s.\u00a0 Perfect race day weather.\u00a0 I kept saying, \u201cNext year I am totally signing up for this race\u201d.\u00a0 Which likely means it will either be pouring rain or a heat index of 105.\u00a0 So, we were cruising along, singing with Christiana Aguilera, and suddenly Ally asks, \u201cMom, why are so many songs on the radio about dating or being in love?\u00a0 They are almost all about girls and boys.\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cYou\u2019re right, Al.\u00a0 I guess it\u2019s because people write music about their life experiences.\u00a0 And so many life experiences involve different relationships.\u00a0 Some that grow, some that end, some that last forever, there are so many kinds of relationships and they\u2019re always changing.\u00a0 People sing songs about that because the listeners can relate to them. \u201c<\/p>\n

Eventually, we made it to the course, which was interesting, seeing that I am completely navigationally challenged.\u00a0 I pulled over to ask a police officer for directions and he started to ask if I knew where some landmark was, then stopped mid \u2013sentence and said, \u201cWait, you\u2019re not from around here, are you?\u201d\u00a0 Ummm, no.\u00a0 Once we got parked, we had to hike over to the Finish Line.\u00a0 All 4 of us, single file, trying to avoid being run over by cars and cyclists.\u00a0 We walked up to the Finish and no more than 30 seconds later, I saw my friend Katherine cross the line.\u00a0 About a minute later, she was followed by Nick.\u00a0 Despite my direction mishaps, we made it just in time.\u00a0 Shortly after that, we located my friend Dan and we all watched a straight on view of the Finish to see everyone coming in and our cheering section continued to grow as members of our training group finished.\u00a0 It was a steady stream for the next hour and a half of so many friends.\u00a0\u00a0 Fellow and former Fleet Feet-ers, social runners, customers, training pals from swimming, Ladies from the Fit and Fab group\u2026they just kept coming.\u00a0 It was amazing.\u00a0 I yelled, I cheered, I high fived and fist bumped.\u00a0 I got several sweaty hugs.\u00a0 And I wouldn\u2019t take back a single one of them.<\/p>\n

I watched my friends crash through their own personal obstacles, conquer their fears, bust down old PR\u2019s.\u00a0 I saw some take home medals and some were just glad to cross the line still standing and with a smile on their face.<\/p>\n

Karen\u2019s finish made a lasting impression because as she stood there talking to us just seconds after finishing, she had tears in her eyes as she said, \u201cI did it\u201d.\u00a0 Karen, like me, was not a swimmer, but she learned and she got through the open water swim and was so proud of herself that she cried\u2026happy tears of course.\u00a0 Personally, I almost always cry when I cross the finish line.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s another Lindsey quirk.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I missed Kris coming across the line because Silas decided he had to go to the port-o-potty and it had to be right that second.\u00a0 Then he proceeded to check each one and declared, \u201cThey\u2019re all flooded!\u201d\u00a0 To which I replied, \u201cWelcome to my World, Kid. They\u2019re port-o-potties!\u00a0 Just pick one!\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracy made my day when she said she was disappointed to find out I wasn\u2019t competing today.\u00a0 It\u2019s ok, Tracy and I will have our shot together in Wisconsin in 21 more days.\u00a0 Tracy also said the best part was that she just felt positive the whole way.\u00a0 That\u2019s awesome.\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna need some of that in Racine!<\/p>\n

Every few minutes someone else came down the shoot.\u00a0 AJ and Rickster crossed at the same time.\u00a0 Roberto, Chad, Steve, Erin.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have any idea that Teri and Kristen were going to be there.\u00a0 Tony, Nikki, Chris.\u00a0 A couple friends did the sprint distance, so I never saw Jenn on the course, but I ran into Sarah just as I was heading out with the kids.\u00a0 Sarah placed 3rd<\/sup> today and had a huge 7 minute PR after 5 years off\u2026she did all that with a defibulator.\u00a0 Incredible.<\/p>\n

As the kids and I followed Tony\u2019s little red mini Cooper carrying him, Erin, Nikki and all of their bikes, all of us caravanning back to Erin\u2019s parent\u2019s house for brunch, I heard another song come on the radio and these words struck me\u2026<\/p>\n

“We come into this world unknown
\nBut know that we are not alone
\nThey try and knock us down
\nBut change is coming, it’s our time now<\/p>\n

Hey\u2026 everybody loses it,
\nEverybody wants to throw it all away sometimes
\nAnd hey\u2026 yeah I know what you’re going through
\nDon’t let it get the best of you, you’ll make it out alive”<\/p>\n

This week begins the final big push to Racine.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to get in some good swims and long rides and get my body more used to the feeling of running after getting off the bike. It\u2019s going to be hard, but as we always say, \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to be hard.\u00a0 If it was easy, everyone would do it.\u201d \u00a0After today, watching my friends, my community, my peeps, I know that I can do this, because I\u2019m going to have so many of them right there with me when I do.\u00a0 Life experiences.\u00a0 Relationships. \u00a0Getting knocked down and getting back up again.\u00a0 Because no matter where you are on your journey, someone else has been there and it\u2019s your community, your cheering section, your friends, that will always get you through.<\/p>\n

\"So<\/a>

So proud of these peeps! Even more proud to call them my friends.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today was a unique experience in my racing career. I went to a race that I was not competing in.\u00a0 I was there purely to provide a cheering squad.\u00a0 And I say squad because I dragged my 3 kiddos out to the course with me.\u00a0 Granted I bribed them with Dunkin Donuts along the way, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-lessonsfromrunning","category-randomthoughts","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-5w","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":386,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342\/revisions\/386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}