Hiking it up

Thanksgiving weekend is over and it has been a busy, productive one in the Whitchurch household.   I cooked my very first Thanksgiving dinner, Nathan finished remodeling the bedroom and I got three good workouts in! That's a pretty awesome weekend if you ask me.

The first was a 34 minute run around the neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon. I had gotten home from work a little earlier than usual and decided to take advantage of the sunshine and cool weather. The run itself was perfectly lovely, my motivation high and I managed to go about 2-ish miles non-stop. That is a good start to any weekend, but it only gets better from there!

Now, I know this blog is primarily dedicated to all things outdoors and athletic, but I would like to take a moment and discuss Thanksgiving day itself. That glorious day consisted of nothing but eating and laying around and eating some more and laying some more. Oh what pure joy! Below you will see how delicious it all was. Please note that I cooked everything on that plate except for the turkey. Not gonna lie, I was very, very proud.

After the deliciousness that was Thanksgiving and a Friday spent working on things inside, Nathan and I chose to take advantage of another stunning day on Saturday and go for a hike. It was good to get outside, stretch and walk off some of those potatoes and gravy. We hiked the mountain preserves east of Squaw Peak and rocked it, only stopping once to chit chat with some friends that happend to be on the mountain at the same time. After making it to the top of our peak, we celebrated by taking a few quick pictures before heading back down. Take a look, we seem very pleased with ourselves, no?

And that brings us to Sunday! Today I was lucky enough to escort little Bill again on a run, this time sticking to the mountains instead of city streets. We thought it might be good to get a few action shots and demonstrate to you all what our training is like. And by we, I of course mean me.

Here is Billy's action shot:

Here is mine:

There you have it boys and girls! Thanksgiving weekend is over and it has been a beautiful, wonderful, enjoyable one. I got to spend time with my family: learning my mother's cooking secrets, running with my favorite little brother. I got to spend quality time with my beloved husband: remodeling our room, hiking, sitting on the sofa. But most importantly, I had a few good quality minutes with my own thoughts and very happily was able to refocus on my Savior. I now feel rested, rejuvenated and ready to hit the ground running. 

It's going to be a good week. 

Coolest running story of the week: my brother's edition

This week's awesome running story, alas, does not belong to me. Instead, it comes direct from the luckiest human being alive: my brother Billy.

As I have previously mentioned, Bill is in the process of training for a 100-mile run on New Years Eve. He has been running in the north Phoenix desert at progressively longer distances, yesterday hitting the 30+ mile mark. Ouchy. This week though, he hit a different kind of milestone: the holy cow, you're still alive mile mark?!

It happened near the end an 80 minute run. Billy had gone out on Tuesday night for his jaunt without water, his Camelback or his phone. As he described it, the distance was so short, why did he need water or his phone? *Sigh*

He was running through the desert about 20 minutes from home as it was starting to get dark. The light was casting dappled shadows through the mesquite trees and up ahead he spied a crack in the trail. He continued to run towards the crack, keeping his eyes ten feet in front and zoning in and out in a runner's day dream.

At the moment he was about to step on that dry crack in the desert landscape, he looked down. His eyes registered the diamond pattern at the same time his foot registered the feeling of "squish" underneath. My baby brother had just planted his foot squarely on the back of a western diamondback rattlesnake. (More details on how bad a choice this was available at the hyperlink).

What I wouldn't give to have a YouTube video of what happened next!

Billy simultaneously jumped ten feet high, twenty feet long, screamed like a five year old girl and uttered a line of curse words that would make a sailor blush. He glanced back in time to see the full three and a half feet of rattlesnake still in the trail and looking slightly more thin in the middle. He ran the remaining distance home at a fairly decent, and slightly paranoid, pace.

As best we can figure, Billy is still with us today because that snake was too cold and trying to lick up the last remaining drops of sunlight. It's getting to be that time of year... At the point when he shmooshed it, his snake friend was almost comatose and unable to react. Thank God. Otherwise I might have been an only child.

And there you have it! Remember friends, when running through the desert always carry water, a phone, and keep your eyes on the trail in front of you.


Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is how Billy's friend may have looked had he been awake:

Weekend Running

Yesterday I was lucky enough to escort my little baby brother Billy on a thirty minute run. And by little baby brother, I of course mean my 20 year old, stud of a brother who is currently in the process of training for a 100-mile run.

Yeah, it was painful.

Dinner the night before hadn't sat with me too well (shame on you jambalaya!) and my stomach was churning the entire few miles. Add to that the fact that I'm woefully out of shape again courtesy of three months spent traveling and you get a recipe for ouch.

Billy very graciously allowed me to walk, twice, and then proceeded to encourage me the final sprint to my driveway whereupon I mumbled about water and stumbled into a heap on my living room floor.

Despite all that, it was a truly enjoyable morning. The run hurt but was short enough not to make me sore for days, plus, I got to enjoy a cloudy, overcast day with my truly hilarious brother. All in all, it was a pretty good start to my Saturday.

5k- Done!

Well, its five days later and I have finally recovered from last Sunday's 5K. Turns out that running 3.1 miles for the first time in two months can be fairly painful, both during and after. But, with that said, the sense of accomplishment is totally worth it. Here's how it went down:

Woke up excited on Sunday morning, gearing to go and trying to distract Nathan from the fact that this was his first ever race. The poor guy was tired and nervous and slightly grouchy about having to run. I remember my first 5K and I can't say I blamed him.

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at Tempe Diablo stadium, checked in with Tali and our team and got ourselves registered. Another thirty minutes after that, we were decked out in team shirts, the timers were on our ankles and the numbers across our chests - it was time to run. I was fidgeting with nerves at the start line during the entire 10 minute opening ceremony (don't get me started) and fought to maintain a normal pace when the gun went off and it was time to go.

For the first quarter mile Nathan and I stayed together, fighting our way through the pack and laughing slightly at the grade school boys who sprinted to the front. I felt great! The wind was in my hair, I was picking people off left and right and all I could think of was my recent dream in which I could run for forever. Besides that, it was a beautiful, sunny Fall morning and I was taking part in one of my favorite pastimes with one of my favorite people. There it was, the familiar feeling: I wanted to win.

I turned around to blow a kiss to Nathan and quickly sped away. Bam!, I passed a runner. Shazam!, there went one more. I was a machine and I had my eye on the folks in front. My goal was to do the race under 29 minutes but heck, I wasn't going to complain if it could be faster! I continued to focus on maintaining my pace and how great I was feeling. And then, like it always does, reality set in.

My legs became slightly heavier and my breathing slightly more laboured. Dang! Turns out I couldn't run forever... Now, it was down to the mental race. I refused to let myself think negative. Too many times I've learned that the only thing that stands between a good race and a poor race is a few bad thoughts. Instead, I focused on the fact that I had already made it one mile, one and a half miles, two miles, all on practically no practice at all! This was my gift, my ability given straight from my Creator and I sure wasn't going to squander it away. Running like this, choosing to push rather than to give in to the pain, recognizing that I had been given an ability and that it was being used to help the children I cared about in Chuka, was wonderful and exciting. So I ran.

I ran past water station's one and two with hardly . I ran past two or three more runners, one of which was a twelve year old boy with no concept for pacing oneself. After watching him sprint and walk, sprint and walk, sprint and walk, and passing him two times only to have him overtake me again with all the sprinting, I finally made him run next to me for a half mile. No walking, no overly fast, just a nice, slow pace. I was proud of the little fella.

And still I ran.

Just when I was starting to feel as if the finish line would be something I crossed walking, there it was, right in front of me. I gathered whatever remaining strength I had, dropped a few swear words to let the ground know that it had better move quickly under me and proceeded to work into sprint mode. There were three gentlemen right behind me and while I had already given up on trying to catch the lady in front, there was no way I was letting them pass me.

At 28 minutes and 15 seconds, I crossed the finish line. I had done it!

Five days later, my muscles are finally beginning to recover and I feel more encouraged and excited about this hike than ever. I remember why I enjoy doing this and how excited I am to be doing it for Chuka. I remember how truly blessed I am to be spending a Sunday racing and as long as Jesus allows me the ability, I will continue to run.

There you have it! The story of Team Whitchurch's first 5K - I hope you've enjoyed it!

PS - Nathan did a wonderful job too! His first race and he did it without stopping and in decent time. And see the below, smiling afterward:

Go Team Whitchurch (a subsidiary of Team Planet Heart)!

5K: One Day

Nathan and I will be doing a 5K tomorrow! Wish us luck. And look out for pictures!

Home improvements

Does helping Nathan carry seven slabs of drywall from the car into the house count as weight lifting?

Na, I didn't think so either. Though they were heavy and they did hurt when knocked against my shins.

On an unrelated note, I have officially downloaded the Blogger app on my mobile devices. You know what that means? More posts! I can now talk about this journey of mine from lazy girl to accomplished hiker, all while on the go. Gotta love the 21st century.

Ps- looks like I will be doing a 5k this weekend. :) Go team!