Training for the Grindstone 100

The Grindstone 100, a grueling 100 miler in the mountains of Virginia, with over 23,000 feet of elevation gain, takes place the first weekend of October this year. My ultra distance partner, and Team Baby Alex Foundation runner, friend and inspiration (he ran across the entire USA last year pushing his stuff in a baby jogger!) and I will have our toes on the starting line. Hopefully, before the 38 hour time limit has clicked past, we will be crossing the finish line. Training has begun in earnest. As always, we will be running for The Baby Alex Foundation, raising money for next year's grants. I've been reading Jeff's book, just published, called Running with God Across America, and I imagine Jeff will be running with prayers for the sick and in need too. His book has inspired me to push myself harder in training, to trust that my feet can take me a lot farther than I might have imagined and to be nicer to people I meet along the way.

Alex's First Triathlon

Alex has been talking about his first triathlon, which took place last weekend, for three months. In Utah, he informed everyone he met that he was there with Mommy to train for his first triathlon. Back at home this summer, he continued to tell everyone that he was in training. When it finally arrived, I was concerned that the build up would lead to a let down. Fortunately, the race went well, he walked away from it without any injuries, and in the end, it was sort of just the start of another amazing summer day. Alex was in excellent company this weekend at his first TRI. This was our Team Baby Alex Foundation triathlon training camp, and we had three amazing kids training with us. All of the kids raced the triathlon and all finished. What brought tears to my eyes was watching the kids, who had just met, come together to cheer and support each other. It was incredible. Little Spencer, who finished before Alex, returned to run a second loop of the race to run by Alex's side. Justin, much older, also ran with Alex and cheered him on the whole way. The kids all ran through the finish area together and were full of hugs and high fives. I was proud of them all. When another team member asked Alex how he did in the race later that day, he said "I won." She said, "Really? You came in first?" And Alex said, "I won because I participated!" Yay, Team.

Graduating to Neighborhood Runs

When Alex and Izzy were old enough to handle running in the neighborhood, we started by going just one block at a time. Running in the neighborhood is one of the few times I crack a (metaphorical) whip, because it can be dangerous. I insisted on two things, and I recommend you do the same: 1) We run together, as a group, and not get spaced out; 2) We all stop, look and listen at every street or busy driveway. It took about a year of this kind of running to finally get my kids to stop, look and listen on their own. Although we still run together these days, I no longer have to remind them to stop, look and listen. I'm sure I sounded like a crazy woman at times when I was first teaching them running practices, and we probably woke up the neighborhood (since we run EARLY), but safety is always first. Teaching your kids to be safe on the sidewalk might save their life, as it did with Izzy. One day when she was two, she started chasing a ball toward the end of our driveway. As the ball rolled into the street, a car swerved around the corner going about 50mph. I don't think I even had time to yell to Izzy to stop, because it all happened so fast. But Izzy put on her brakes right on the edge of the driveway, to stop, look and listen. The car zoomed past. That year of teaching the kids safe running on the sidewalks gave me a few grey hairs and I lost my patience countless times. But, it was all worth it. If you take your kids to run in your neighborhood, set down the rules before you even head out the door. If you are starting from scratch, it will not be fun at first, But keep at it. And don't forget to wear your running shoes to keep up with them!

Taking Kids Running Outside

Summer has finally set in, and as in the past couple of years, it is hot!! My run yesterday in mid-90 degree heat brought our dog to a complete standstill. I had to run him home and then go back out to finish training. I love the heat, but most bodies are not made for it like mine. So, if you are taking your kids outside this summer to run, bring lots of water bottles, run during the cool times of day (morning and evening), take lots of breaks, go for a swim or bath afterward to cool down, and don't overdo it. Once our kids were ready to graduate from running inside, I took them to the local track. The track is great for kids because it is usually mostly enclosed by a fence (we often had to jump over the fence to get in if the gate was locked), which means that your kids can't wander off. They can run freely with YOU around the track or just run sprints back and forth on the football field counting the large numbers on the field. I have no idea if there are rules against these things but no one has ever given me a hard time about it. Can you really ask a Mommy with a 2 and 3 year old to leave the track? As we did in the kitchen, I made a game out of running. We counted laps and I gave away all kinds of "awards", like the Gold Star, which my kids have finally figured out doesn't exist in any physical form, but just means that they did a good job. The very best award of all is to go for an ice cream after your run, or buy containers of ice cream and cones for home and make special treats at home. If it's hot, spray your kids with the water hose when you get home. A run, playing in the water hose, then ice cream...that's a full summer morning and your kids will be ready for some quiet time afterward.

Follow Articles on All Things Healing

The first of my articles has come out on All Things Healing (www.allthingshealing.com). Here is the link: http://www.allthingshealing.com/Exercise-Fitness/Run-for-Your-Brain/11744

Introducing Children to Running

Alex ran his first race when he was 20 months old. He could barely shuffle back then, and I had to hold him up as he race, but he finished his first 60 meters with a smile on his face. The race series was held by my running club and included a 60 meter course for the little guys, a 400 meter run for older kids and longer distances for the older or braver. The video of Alex running his first race is featured on our website (www.babyalexfoundation.com). The following week, we took Alex back to the track for his second race. This time, he refused to hold my hand, no matter how many times he fell during the race, and when he stumbled across the finish line, he kept going. We used to call him Forest Gump. Alex is not physiologically designed to run. He has cerebral palsy, suffers from uneven leg lengths, has hip pain and lower back pain, and can barely raise his left foot to clear the ground. But, he is a natural born runner. He runs, and runs and runs and runs, and sometimes we have to pull him off a running path and make him take a break. So, how did we introduce Alex to running? We started with circles around the island in our kitchen. I ran with the kids and we made it into a game. We pretended we were cars or motorcycles or animals. We counted our laps in English and Italian and Japanese. I gave out award and rewards for laps run. We made everything fun. If you have kids who need to run, for whatever reason, I recommend the following: 1) Start them young (Izzy started running at 18 months). 2) Run in a safe location so you don't really have any rules; let them run freely. 3) Turn the running into a game: count laps, pretend to be cars or animals, give prizes. 4) And finally, the most important point: RUN WITH YOUR KIDS. You will get into shape, have fun and share time. Once you get them running, you can move them outdoors. I will write more on that in the next blog.

Running with Jurek

For the past week, I've been running with ultramarathon legend, Scott Jurek. Not literally, but I've been reading his book Eat & Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness, and I can't get his story, or his training, out of my head. Erik thinks he must be a long lost cousin because of the similarities in our personalities, the fact that as children we were both inducted into our family low-bush wild blueberry picking and endless fly fishing trips, both of which included swarms of mosquitoes and unsympathetic grandparents, his dream of going to Dartmouth, and his use of running to solve everything. He eats healthier than I could ever dream to, as I am madly in love and married to ice cream and chocolate and the occasional mojito. His book is amazing, whether you are a runner or not, because it is not just about running, but as he states, about finding your way out of a rut. For Jurek, and for me and for most people who run long distances, the answer to all of life's problems is running. And it seems, for most of us, our distances increase and our destinations become more remote and challenging as we age, or as in my case, an my children age. I have recently been asked to be a contributing writer for an amazing website called All Thing Healing (www.allthingshealing.com). My articles this year are about the benefits of running, of going longer and farther than you might have thought your body capable of going, of introducing your children to running, and of the benefits of running on the brain. In one of them, I write about being the parent of a child with disabilities, and how that stress can wear on the body and brain. My solution has been to run. Whether during Alex's time in the hospital or today, when our day-to-day challenges include meltdowns (for both of us) over getting dressed in the morning, I run. Running lowers the levels of Cortisol in the brain, which when produced in large amounts over long periods of time, wears at the hippocampus, the memory center of the brain and causes long-term negative effects. There are myriad other benefits that running brings to the brain. For me, lowering my stress and elevating my mood are the most immediate and observable benefits that I gain from running every day. Recently, I have noticed that Alex has started to use running the way I do. When he gets really frustrated, particularly with his fine motor skills, he often tells me that he needs to take a break and go for a run, and then return to his task. I have introduced my children to the idea that running makes you smarter (by increasing brain derived neurotrophic factor, which is miracle grow on your synapses) and calms you down (by regulating the neurotransmitters Serotonin, Norepinephrine and Dopamine, which affect mood, anger control, attention, motivation), and they have begun to put their running to use when they realize their brains are not behaving. This month, I am going to include a running plan for anyone who wants to begin running with children, even as young as 3 years old. In the meantime, I recommend that everyone read Jurek's book. A good read and great motivation.