The OTHER thing that I love about the day after Christmas is that THIS year, the next day is a SATURDAY!!  That means that we had a run planned and because I’m finally getting over my cold, I got to go run with my friends!  I know I’m old because presents have so little to do with my happiness anymore.  For me, the best part of Christmas is being with people I love, doing something I adore. 

 We met at the trailhead on 63^rd, near the Boulder Reservoir.  Kathy, Marcia and Beth were cozy in Kathy’s heated minivan, waiting for me to arrive.  I joined them while I put on my YakTrax and we waited to see if any more brave souls would show for our 7 AM start time.  By 7:10 we were ready to go, and Sarah had just pulled into the parking lot.  The five of us gathered ourselves and decided to just do the 6 mile loop instead of the longer nine miler.  The trail was snowy with a layer of ice underneath, and we were pretty sure that running 6 miles in the snow with YakTrax would be a darn good workout.

 The wind was pelting snow as we started out, and the right side of my face became numb in a matter of minutes.  My hands were icy in my SmartWool liners and I did a lot of finger-flexing as I tried to get blood into my extremities.  I can tell that I’m getting older, because the fingers and toes are feeling the cold more than they did even a year ago.  I’m buying new gloves this weekend with some of my Christmas money.  Merry Christmas little fingers, I love you!

 Thank God for Kathy; within minutes she steered us onto the fork in the trail.  She was the only one who could see it in the fresh snow!  Beth and I had totally overshot it.  Left to my own devices, it’s a crapshoot where I would have ended up.  Most likely it would have been a 10-miler or a 1-miler, because I either would have gone away from the Rez and done a hellacious loop on the Diagonal Highway, or I would have looped around the parking lot and ended up back at the car in 5 minutes.  God only knows, because I couldn’t see where we were going.

 After about 15 minutes either the wind died down or the temperature rose, because I wasn’t freezing cold anymore.  I could tell that my feet were a little damp in my sneakers, but they weren’t COLD per se, so all was well.  Sarah regaled us with tales of her Christmas cooking exploits of Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon recipe (it went really well!).  I mentioned that Bill and I got brand-new Schwinn bikes for the kids this year, hid them in a neighbor’s garage for four days, and brought them into the house and parked them near the tree in the living room.  The kids came downstairs and saw the bikes.  The response?  “Oh, thanks Mom”, as they headed to the presents to rip off wrapping paper.  Sarah LAUGHED at this, because apparently her 5-year-old twins did the same thing.  Maybe it’s a thing of getting a bike at Christmas when there’s 6 inches of snow on the ground.  Kids can’t imagine riding them right away, so it’s a boring present.  Is that it?  I dunno.  I think if I saw a shiny new bike sitting in the living room waiting for me I’d be jumping up and down, squealing and clapping my hands.  I would LOVE to get a new bike for Christmas.  And that, my friends, is the difference between me and kids.  About 25 years.

 At the entrance to the Reservoir we came across a group of runners, and a cheer went up from both camps.  “Yay, women!”  We kind of wondered where the guys were this morning.  Are they all at home with the kids?  Is it too cold out there for them?  The other women warned us about the ice on the road; apparently one of them wiped out pretty bad.  I noticed that none of them had YakTrax on, and hoped that our party was better prepared.

 It seems that chains on your shoes make all the difference.  We all did great, gripped the road just fine, and made it through without incident.  Yay!

 Heading back around the Rez Kathy steered us onto the correct fork after Sarah and I blithely took the one less traveled.  (oops)  We finished the 5.4 mile run in about an hour, giving us a pace of 11 minutes per mile.  Nothing to write home about in terms of speed, but BOY did we work for it!  I was plenty sweaty and odiferous climbing into my car as we caravanned to the coffee shop.

 Thanks to my 4-wheel drive and YakTrax, I was safe on the snow and ice.  The only excitement came when I was ready to head home from the coffee shop.  The rubber of the windshield wiper on the driver’s side had totally broken off the wiper, rendering the thing completely useless.  It took Kathy and me about 10 minutes of freezing our fingers on the cold metal to switch the wipers (we put the useful right wiper on the driver’s side) because the metal was frozen in place.  Yikes!  I made it home safely, Bill went out later to buy new wipers for the car, the snow stopped falling and the sun even peeked out for a few hours this afternoon.

 I’m SOOOOO glad I got out today!  I’ve been fighting a cold this past week and nursing sick family members as well, so this is the first group run I’ve managed in two weeks.  We’re going to do another group run on New Year’s Eve (in the morning, not after we’ve been celebrating) and I’ll be sure to let you all know how it goes.  What an awesome way to say goodbye to the year, hanging out with a bunch of awesome, strong, fascinating women on a trail somewhere.  I can’t wait!

Jill and her Mom started running after her  mom was diagnosed the second time with breast cancer.  They decided to run a marathon to celebrate her recovery and crossed the finish line of the 2008 PF Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in Arizona with a hunger for more.  Since that time Jill has run other distance races and has said she’ll never stop running!  She particularly loves the “Race for the Cure” series and even got to visit Washington DC to do the Global Race for the Cure.  She’s running the 2009 Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon to benefit the Komen Foundation, raising money via her website, Jill Will Run .  She’s asking people to donate $1 in hopes of seeing what can be raised without requesting huge contributions from everyone.  Emptying the “car ashtray change” can make a difference!

The Mindful Runner

by Jill Whitaker

Too often I feel as though I have a million thoughts rattling around in my brain.  I recently wrote about this feeling on my blog, Jill Will Run, and how it is similar to a bird trapped under a roof.  (I will admit the inspiration for that simile came from a book.  “The Thirteenth Tale” by Diane Setterfield is full of rich literary imagery.)  Running has become a very therapeutic way for me to “release the birds” and get my thoughts in order.

There is an important aspect I’ve been working on improving in my life that helps both the “birds in the brain” and my running: being more mindful. 

Instead of trying to outrun my thoughts, I use a run to observe my thoughts.  It’s a difficult task at times and I often find that I’m trying to fix the thoughts as opposed to simply noticing the different directions my brain is traveling.  When I catch myself, I try to remember to just listen and that through listening more answers can be found.

This personal observation and mindfulness is beneficial in many areas.  I think the general attitude of the world seems that we must always be on the go; planning, plotting, rushing and moving.  This constant buzz can actually prevent us from evolving as individuals. 

In January I experienced my first DNF (Did Not Finish) after tripping and falling in a marathon.  As I was trying to get medical assistance, sitting in the emergency room waiting for stitches, getting rocks dug out of my hands… all I could think was “How will I redeem myself? What’s next?”  And I think I actually delayed my recovery some by not allowing myself to focus on getting well.  I was too concerned with proving to the world that I am a tough runner and nothing can set me back.  My physical wounds healed, but my emotional well-being was damaged by not giving myself a break.

On an even more basic level, taking the time to rest mindfully can help with recovery from our everyday running and workouts.  Just sitting down and taking a moment to acknowledge that this rest is healing and is as vitally important to training as a long run or speedwork, gives the activity more focus and purpose.  (Yes, I’m going to say rest is an activity… simply because I need that label for myself.  Too often I’ve branded it as doing nothing and that just serves the purpose of making me feel down on myself.)

Mindfulness can be practiced during a run as well.  Take a moment to turn off the music and run on your own.  Notice your breathing, the world around as you run through it, the way your body moves and how it feels at that particular moment.  Do a mental scan from head to toe.  This practice can help you correct imbalances in your form, appreciate the power and grace of the human body and remember just how much you CAN do.  I have a friend who runs ultramarathons and she often reminds people that we are capable of doing so much more than we think.  When we let the negative thoughts get in the way, that’s the foundation where our limits and obstacles are built.   If you are constantly trying to block out the experience of what you are doing when running, how will you ever learn to appreciate the sport and what you are accomplishing?

Lastly, I think mindfulness can help us focus on our own abilities.  Turning our thoughts inward redirects our focus on our own skills at a personal level.  Instead of looking out at everyone else and comparing their pace and distance to our own, remember how far you have come and what changes and improvements you have made.

I challenge you to take a look inside.  Take stock of what YOU need, not what you think you NEED TO DO for everyone else.  Observe without negative judgment and remind yourself that it is okay to treat yourself kindly.  Then act upon those observations… keeping your thoughts mindful and actions purposeful.  You are worth your own attention!

Jill Whitaker writes the blog Jill Will Run.  Stop by and tell her “HI!”