Lear Ninja- Melinda Lear

Hi girls!  I have been meaning to blog on this site yet have not until now.  Glad to read you guys are doing so well!

I ran track in high school and just did sprints and sprint hurdles.  And then since then I had not run until 2007 when Lindsey got me motivated to run long distances which I have never done. I was  used to explosive energy and endurance has been something I have had to work for and was very new to me.  I  usually do weight training at the gym or a class here and there. I like the feeling of giving it everything.  I remember running my first 3 and was so proud of myself.  The highest I have gone was 10 miles and felt great and strong except my sock kept rubbing the wrong spots the last mile and my knees were spent.  

 The journey has been awesome and I  have learned a lot about myself and ways to help certain parts of my character in persevering and being consistent.  So I decided to sign up for the half in San Antonio to make it a done deal.  Another recent endeavor has been my excitement for getting into cycling.  I bought a rode bike and have LOVED training on this for duathalons. (since I cant swim...well properly)  Recently Mark and I just found out we are expecting and due in April.   We are so excited.  I have been doing a lot of research and asking doctors what I can and cant do for my training.  I really didn't get a good answer and had a weird feeling that I needed to be careful.  So I went to the Lord finally and just got a huge message... To really enjoy this time and keep praying that the baby is safe and that I just learn to not go crazy in my workouts.  Before the news I have been persevering through long hard bike rides and running at faster paces than I have recently and just pushing through to get better.  It has been hard but really rewarding and fun.  But now I feel like I need to take a step and get good workouts in just not hit that point where I want to give it all I got.  I think this will be a good lesson for me.  My  new goal is to learn how to swim so I can do triathlons.  7.5 months to get swimming down.  

So I m not sure where that leaves me for the half.  I want to do it, if my body lets me do it safely and the Lord gives me the ok.  I guess in time I will get a better feel if this is right or not.

Just wanted to finally blog and give you guys an insight of where Im at.

Keep on pushing through,

Melinda (LN)

Hi everyone! Well, I must say that I am probably very behind in my training. But I plan on really stepping it up so as not to embarrass anyone in November. :-)

Actually, reading everyone's blogs has been a little inspirational. Amanda emailed me a training schedule earlier and I plan to do my best to follow it. I hope that my next message will convey that.

Rebecca, Wes got me an iPod and sport chip for Christmas last year and I LOVE it! It is the best thing ever. Have you syncronized it with Nike Plus yet? It logs all your runs and keeps track of your pace and allows you to set goals.

Just another short little note to say thank you to everyone for including me in this. I've needed something or someone to light a fire under my backside for quite a while.

gotta love gadgets

Before I get to the cool new running gadget that I got last week, I have to vent about my training schedule! I was getting into such a groove with a great weekly schedule...3 runs, 2 cross training days and every other Wednesday running sprints. So I just sat down with all the back-to-school calendars for my whole family to compile them onto the huge "mom's calendar". After I filled in all the after school stuff...gymnastics, tae kwon do, boyscouts, my husband's weekly pastor search committee meeting, choir for the kids at church, etc....where does mom fit in?? I will have to have the organizational skills of Amanda to pull this off! : ) I'm being a little melodramatic, but it will be a challenge. Between getting up early, early on some mornings and having dinner served early and kids bathed early on other nights in order to have an after bedtime run, I've figured out all but my Thursday runs. I've thought about taking Sophie with me while the older 2 kids are at school but there's too many darned mosquitos right now! It's like a plague. Anyways, I'll figure it out somehow. The gym is off limits for my youngest for the whole fall because she had RSV last winter and was in the ICU for 3 days. Her doctor wants her away from large group childcare settings until she's a little older. This is slightly more important than my training schedule I suppose! : )

Onto a more positive note, my husband surprised me the other day with a cool new way to measure my mileage. I am somewhat behind on most things electronic so this may be nothing new or special to you guys! It's a chip that plugs into the bottom of your ipod that coordinates with a chip you wear on your shoe. When you turn on the ipod, you can customize your run....For example, my long run last Saturday was 7 miles. I entered 7 miles on the ipod and took off. Along with whatever song you're listening to on the ipod, it shows how far you've run and your pace. This is so great for me for 2 reasons. First, I love to wander when I run. I like to literally get lost in the run and see new sights. Hard to do though when you're training for a race and need to know how far you've been! However, the second and most surprisingly helpful thing for me was being aware of my pace. I actually finished the 7 miles in a little under 10 minutes per mile. For me that's pretty good. I found that I'm starting my long runs much faster than I thought which is probably why I was struggling so much to finish my long runs. Gotta love gadgets!


Rebecca

This is why I don't stop!

I haven't had much to blog: I missed my workouts from Tuesday-Saturday last week due to various reasons. Back to school stuff...sickness...travel. I finally got a run in on Sunday though. It was my "long" run that was supposed to be done on Saturday and it was only 4 miles. Before I ran the 4, I remember thinking, "This is why I don't stop (to walk) while I'm running...cause it's so hard to start up again!" Same goes for long breaks in training...it's hard to get back in the groove once I've taken some time off. Anybody else feel the same way?

It felt good to run. I was pleasantly surprised by how strong I felt despite the lapse in training. Honestly, I was ready for the punishment...the soreness...but, that didn't happen. Maybe my body needed that break.

On a side note:
I missed my runs on Friday and Saturday due to travel. My friend and I drove to San Antonio to listen to Beth Moore speak. It was worth every second. God is so good...it amazes me that there were 10,000 women (and a few brave men) there and I felt like Beth's message (His message) was written and spoken for me alone. It was a little scary!

Lindsey's email today (about rebirth and letting go of the past) reminded me of a a portion of her spiel. Among many of the things Beth said, she spoke briefly of how insecure women can be, and because of that create false gods. We (I) look to that false god for affirmation and acceptance, and when I don't get it, I tend to second guess things, or not be happy with my position in life. All things that I already knew, but it was refreshing to hear again. Helped to put things into perspective for me, and to realize that the only affirmations that I should be seeking are His. Not society's...not my best friend's...not my neighbor's...not my family's. There is such freedom in that, isn't there? "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free." (Gal 5:1)

Not that I'm looking for affirmation or anything...;) Just want you to keep me honest....here's my training log for the week: I got in 5 last night, and 4 today. I plan on 4 tomorrow, 5 Thursday, 3 Friday and 8 Saturday.

"I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." (2 Timothy 4)
A-train