Competitive Gene

  Is there a such thing as being too competitive?  Apparently so.  And..... I may be in trouble.  I found this article online in Glamour magazine. (Oh, yes it IS a very trustworthy source of health information...what do you mean questioning my sources?)  Anyway....here is a segment of the article....

Are you competitive? Would you label yourself as "aggressive" in terms of going after what you want? Here's the warning for people, our competitive nature may be slowly ... killing us.

Researchers who published a major study in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association say that those who are most competitive are at increased risk for stroke and heart attack than folks who are more laid back.

The details: Italian researchers studied 5,614 Italians and found that those who scored highest for competitiveness on standard personality tests had a greater thickening of the neck arteries, an risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

Killing me??!!  Yikes!  That's harsh.

Thankfully, the article did go on to say that if your competitiveness is mostly geared toward your fitness and athletic competitions, that the competitiveness could in theory, be helpful instead of harmful.  The competitiveness gets dangerous when it spills over into friendships, your love life, and everyday tasks.  I think I may not die from being too competitive after all.

I have always known that I inherited my Dad's competitive gene.  All through grade school, I wanted to have the best grades.  In high school, I wanted to be the best softball player on the team....or even the county.  I always felt let down if I didn't get chosen for something or didn't win something. And I don't think that competitive tendency has disappeared over the years.  It still rears it's head up on occasion.

My competitive nature was in full force this past Saturday night.  I entered a unique night time trail run with two of my friends.

The idea of the run was that teams would compete out on the trails in the dark.  The event coordinators had hidden 12 books along the trails marked with reflective tape to be seen only in the dark.  Runners were to head out onto the trails wearing headlamps and run the trails in search of the hidden books.   When a hidden book was found, teams were instructed to tear out the page of the book that corresponded with their team number.  We were team #30, so we were to remove page number 30 from each book and bring it back to the finish line at the end.

Some hints to the books' locations were emailed to runners prior to the race and others were sent via text message during the race.  Prior to the start of the race, using the clues, we had determined that there was one book hidden on each of the trails that covered the mountain.  To collect all 12 books, our team would need to split up to cover all of the miles of the trails in the 3 1/2 hour time limit.

Our basic plan for the race was that I would cover the longer trails alone and my partners would cover some of the shorter, more challenging trails as a pair.  In the end, we hoped to find about half of the books each and meet back at the finish line as winners.

Our plan started out great.  I headed off on the first trail and within minutes found the first hidden book.  I ripped out page #30 and tucked it into my running belt.  I texted my team and alerted them that the first book was found.  I conquered the second trail, Buckeye Trail, and found book #2 almost as quickly.  I jogged on to my third trail, which looped around a wetlands area.  I was stumped a bit when looking for this book and ended up looping around the trail three times before finding book #3.  I moved on to Sandstone Ridge Trail which had some really steep inclines and grabbed book #4 at the top of the trail. 

On my way down this trail heading to my next trail is when I got the alert from my team that they had struggled to find their first book, but had finally located it.  We were now up to 5 books as a team.  I continued on to a long leg of my trail running and covered the Pipeline Trail, which was almost two miles round trip.  Then, Lizard Loop Trail, which was a mile long loop that I ended up running twice because I couldn't find the book the first time.  Locating the book on Lizard Loop was insane.  The book was hidden well off the trail and I had to cross a running stream to get to it.  I ran the rest of the night in shoes and socks saturated with mud, but I was determined to find the book for the team.

After all this trail running is when my competetiveness and determination really took over.  I really picked up my running pace and backtracked some of the previous trails to get to a new section of the mountain.  There were books hidden on The Crusher Trail and The Ridge and Valley Trail.  I looked at the trail map and realized that these were the most challenging trails on the mountain, but I was NOT going to let my team down.  I had books to find!

So I headed off on Crusher Trail and found the book fairly easily, despite the changes in elevation and the fact that I somehow ended up off the trail and was lost for a brief period of time.  I had now found 6 of the 12 books.  I had an hour left to return to the finish line.  I had one last trail to conquer....The Ridge and Valley Trail.  The trail map describes it like this.....

Ridge and Valley Trail (1.5 miles)

Our most demanding trail, it goes through 1000 feet of elevation change over its length. You will cross several small streambeds as you hike.

About 3/4 of the way through the Ridge and Valley Trail.....I thought I was going to die.  I was out of water in my water bottle.  My legs were ON FIRE from running the hills.  My body was exhausted.  I texted Bradley, who was at home with the boys, and told him.....

"I don't know if I will make it off this trail.  I haven't seen another human in forever.  I don't think I can make it back to the finish line. And I think I may even be lost or something.  This trail is sooo long."

But just as I was about to throw in the towel....I saw the faint glow of another person's headlamp.  The person ended up being the event photographer.  He snapped this picture of me as I was climbing yet another "Ridge" on the trail.

He had a thick Indian accent as he shouted...

"Hello, runner!  Are you OK runner?  I haven't seen any other peoples on this trail, runner.  I am take your picture, then I leave this trail.  Are you feel OK runner?  Yay, runner."

I have never been so happy to see another human as I was to see Suman the Indian at that moment.  He let me know that I wasn't lost in the the woods after all.  And I knew that I might make it to the book, get the page out, and get back to the finish line alive.

I continued running and finally got to the end where the most glorious book awaited me.  I cheerfully took the page and put it into my running belt.  I was more than elated to get to the end of the Ridge and Valley Trail to see that there was an alternative trail back to the finish line.  I think that if someone had told me that I would have to retrace my steps and run Ridge and Valley again, that I may have died right there on the spot.

I made it back to the finish line and my team mates arrived shortly after with the books they had found.  My legs were shaking like jello.  I was thirsty and hungry and exhausted, but I had had probably my best run ever.

I ended up covering close to 10 miles of trails in the dark and collected 7 of our team's 10 book pages.  Our collection of 10 hidden book pages was enough to win our team a 3rd place. 

For the past 3 days since the race, I have taken Ibuprofen every 4 hours to help with my aching muscles.  My legs have hurt so bad that I could barely walk.  I have never, ever been so sore from any exercise.

What did we get for this punishment to our bodies???

This medal.....

I know you are jealous.

And bragging rights for completing the race.

Was it worth it?

I don't know.

I'll let you know the answer to that when I am finally able to walk normally again without Ibuprofen.

Summer Dream

Maybe this summer I can vacation in this......

Or this........

And NOT look like this........

If I keep eating this.......

And doing this.......

A girl's gotta have a dream, right?

Encouragement that bordered on child abuse

 

  This past weekend, our whole gang entered a 5k race.  All five of us.  It was a dream come true for me.  All of my favorite people running 3.1 miles together. Well, actually, we started together and then found each other again at the finish line, but you get the idea.  It was probably not so much a dream come true for Bradley, but he endured and was a good sport about it.

  We started the race shoulder to shoulder with 1,300 other racers.  Men, women, children, dogs and strollers.  There were fast runners, who were there to actually try to win, and there were other runners, like us, who were there to try to give a healthy lifestyle a little nudge.

   My kids are pretty fit. They get lots of excercise from all the sports they play and from the playing they do after school. They aren't really video "gamers", because I won't let them be. I think playing outside is good for their body and their brains. So running is not super difficult for them.

    Being a jogger myself, I was loving the fact that they were all so excited to run in the 5K. Carter even wanted to run earlier in the week to practice. I headed out the door to run and asked, "Does anybody wanna go run with me?" Carter grabbed his tennis shoes and we headed out the door together. Everything about the practice run that day was perfect. It was at the end of the day, and we had a beautiful view of the sunset. It was spectacular enough that even Carter noticed. He also noticed the cows in the pasture, the houses, the fences, the bats flying overhead and even the grass. He talked absolutely nonstop for the entire two miles we ran. He wasn't tired. He wasn't winded. He didn't complain. He was perfectly content to run. We finished the run and I was certain that I had just discovered my own little 6 year old distance runner. I was beaming with pride that day.

Then race day came. It all changed.

  When the race began and we crossed the start line, I saw my two oldest whiz past me and Carter.  I clicked a quick photo with my phone and I didn't see them again until the end of the race. They both performed spectacularly.  They were proud that they ran the whole 3 miles and finished with fantastic times!

 

  Carter wasn't as confident about running the race without me, so I stayed by his side to cheer him on.  I was confident that he could jog at least 2 miles of it, since he had already done that a week before.  We set out.  The crowd was electric.  Everyone jostled for a place closer to the front.  Except not Carter.  We started out in a good groove.  I chatted with Carter about how much fun it was to be running with him.  We jogged at a steady pace for about half a mile.  Then he stopped.

  Whoa.  What?  A half a mile?  "What's wrong, Carter?  Why are you stopping?"

"I need a rest."

"Nah, C'mon.  You ran much farther than this at home.  Let's keep going!"  I started to jog again, but Carter continued to just walk.  Oh dear.  This was going to be a long 3 miles.  I wouldn't have really even cared, except that I had two other kids who had blown past us from the beginning and would be finishing the race in a crowd of 1000 other runners.  I was counting on Carter not being far behind them.  I counted wrong.

  He eventually started jogging again, but each time he jogged, he walked again shortly after he started jogging.  I tried every motivation tactic possible to try to get him to jog more, but it wasn't working.  I was getting a wee bit frustrated at him because he wasn't even trying to run. He could've run more if he had so desired.  The mood wasn't striking him one bit to run.  And when he walked, it was at a turtle's pace.  Carter has had the nickname "Turtle" in our family since he was barely walking.  He has always done everthing slow.  He dresses slow.  Walks slow. Eats slow.  Brushes his teeth slow.  Everything is slooooooow with him.  But to race slow!  For the love of Pete!

  After about a mile and a half, when he started to walk, I grabbed his hand and tried to get him to jog with me while I was holding his hand.  I was always about a step ahead of him and I felt like I was dragging him.  Other adults were running all around us.  I keep looking at them smiling, wondering if they were thinking, "Awww....what a cute little mommy and son.  Holding hands jogging."  Or could they tell the truth and were thinking...."Geez.  That Mom is trying to force her kid to run!  What a loser of a Mother."

  At the two mile mark, I had all but given up with the encouragement.  I finally figured...what the heck?  He obviously isn't gonna run.  I might as well go with the flow and walk whenenver he wants.  I even had him completely stop during the race at the two mile mark and I took his picture with the mile marker sign. 

A fellow runner saw me do this and asked if I wanted to get my picture made with him.  By all means.  It's not like we are in a RACE!  So....we stopped.  In the middle of the street.  In the middle of a race.  And posed for a photo.

  I had never run in a race so casually before.  I have never really tried to win one, but I am always trying to better my time and finish as fast as possible.  Racing without a care in the world was new to me.  It made my blood boil at first, but after dragging a 6 year old for 2 miles, the racing mindset ended.  It was my favorite race ever.  I ran the worst 5k time of my life.  I ran it dragging a 6 year old.  I finished it alongside my little laid back "turtle".  I finished it smiling.