Running for My Life: Part 1

 God knows His children so well. He knows our desires, secret or spoken. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. Shucks, He knows how many hairs are on our head. I’m always amazed at the little things He cares about in our lives. He cares about the non earth shattering things, if we are one of His. This is a story about God caring for His children in the seemingly little things of life.

On October 7, 2012, I ran my very first tri-sprint. You know, a triathlon, but much shorter miles are required. I didn’t even do the swim portion, I ran what is called the “dry-tri.” While most were swimming, I was running a mile, before I set out for the 14 mile bike ride. Then, the final leg, was to run a 5k (3.1 miles).

I decided back in April of 2012 that I needed to do something. Something that would stretch me and get my heart racing. Something that would combat my perimenopausal symptoms that I was fighting. I was 45 on this date and 46 when I ran the sprint. Now for some young whipper snappers, they probably laugh at my little tri-sprint. But I don’t care, it’s important that I did it.

The reason for me starting to run in my forties was because I had this story in my head that wouldn’t go away. My sister-in-law has a much older friend who didn’t start running until she was 45. She went to her doctor at that age and asked him what she could do to curtail the symptoms of perimenopause. The doctor told her that of all his patients, the ones that seem to get through the change of life most easily, were the runners. She had never considered running before, but now she did. So at 45 she started her career as a runner. She cruised through perimenopause in her running shoes. (She’s still a runner today at 70 plus years old).

This story was in the back of my mind as I entered my forties. I had been a walker since 2006. I walked 4.4 miles a day, faithfully, at least 4-5 times a week. But as I neared the 45 year old mark, my body started doing weird things. I couldn’t sleep well at night and I’ve always been a good sleeper. I would get anxious at night, right around 8:00-9:00pm. Yet I’m usually a fairly steady person, the non worrying type. My periods were becoming irregular, and I’ve always been like a clock. Things were amiss. And that story of my sister-in-law’s friend kept talking to me. I wasn’t 45 yet. I still had time.

So I turned 45 in July 2012. I was still walking faithfully. But my symptoms weren’t getting better. I also wasn’t losing any weight. So I decided to run. Where, I didn’t know. How, I didn’t know. So I googled “how to start running.” Yes, I googled that. You can google anything. The article I read said to start slow. I liked that. The article explained that if you start slow, you won’t get all sore and then quit altogether and never go back. So I decided to go slow, really slow. It was also about timing. I was to run for 10 minutes, then walk for 10 minutes, then run for 10 minutes. I could do this. I already had the walking part down. My goal was to run 3 miles straight without stopping. By June I met my goal. It was slow, but I didn’t stop.

During this time I was googling races or some kind of goal I could set my mind to. A friend of mine had run a tri-sprint and did really well at it. I decided, that’s what I could do. I’d always been fascinated with the Iron Man Triathlon. I watched it when that one girl couldn’t make it over the finish line and started crawling to finish the race. That impressed me and fascinated me. I found the tri-sprint my friend had done. There was one in Palm Springs in October. It was an all women race, which I liked a lot. Men are just too competitive. Besides, I would feel like a giant sloth when they passed me off.

So now I had a goal. I was going to run the tri-sprint in Palm Springs in October 2012. Now Palm Springs is a desert. A really hot, dry desert. And here in California, we don’t have much in the way of seasons. I didn’t think about it, but that race was going to be really hot. And this Alaskan girl doesn’t like hot one little bit.