In Memorium....

Today was a day of grieving for my dearest friends, Eugene & Phyllis Durr. Eugene buried his mom today, who departed this earth on January 15th at 82 years old. During the service, my heart was still heavy from the loss of my best friend, Yvette's mom, who passed away last March. My heart was also heavy with the pain of all of my other friends who lost their mom in 2009.

During the service, I really thought about how lucky I am to still have my mom. I don't want to know the pain my friends are experiencing after losing their mom. My guess is that the pain of losing your mom never goes away, but that you find new ways of coping with her physical being not being present.

And so, this Saturday, January 30th, I will be running/walking for my friends who lost their moms. Without their moms, I wouldn't have the great friends that I have, today.

Georgia Kirvin-my bff, Yvette's mom
Mama Durr-mother & mother-in-law to Eugene & Phyllis Durr
Mrs. Toussaint-mom to childhood friends, Vicky & Veronica
Shandra's mom
Jason's mom

Thank you moms for having such wonderful children and watch over me this Saturday and always.

Love,
Juvella

I need a watch!

It has been raining like crazy this last week, including Saturday. The funny thing, though...once we decided we would still run, the rain stopped. It was magical. I'm glad it did, but it was still hella cold out! I knew once I got going, I would warm up and would be unzipping my coat and removing my gloves. Renee stayed home because she was fighting a cold, so it was just me, coach mom, and my sister, Sharla who is training for a walk (5k, I think) in March. I let her know that if she wanted to run ahead, it was fine with me. I think I just like the solitude of being out in nature's beauty, but coach mom wasn't having it! She's very proud to have not let any of her mentee's run/train alone. Coach mom did run ahead of me and we utilized our system of arm up to run/arm up to walk. I got a bit confused with our signals because coach mom had her ipod on. While she was running, she was really grooving to the music and her arms were going all kinds a crazy! I had to remind mom that we have a system and she must be conscious of her arms. LOL!

Anyway....while out on the trail, we're just running and grooving (cuz I had on my ipod, too) I just stopped...because I was tired. Coach turned around to notice I was walking and said with a sheepish grin, 'you were running for three minutes!' I just laughed at her and said, 'what? you're cheating me with my time?! I need to get my OWN watch to keep time!' All was good though because I was jammin to Mary J. Blige & U2 'One'. I was singing so loudly and was really into it! Maybe that's my power song and not the BEPs 'Boom-Boom Pow'. In hindsight, I found that when I was into a jammin song, I was running like crazy vs when the songs were just okay. I need to create some play lists on my ipod so all of my power songs are ready to go.

I still need a new watch, though!

To run or not to run.....

So...I hit the trail for another run/walk session on the 16th and I must say, to run or not to run is a great question! I found that I did a lot of walking this weekend, but in the process, asked myself why am I out here. I've not fully answered the question, but I think deep down, I know the answer. I can say that I was thinking about a lot while I was out on the San Leandro Marina Trail. Coach Mom and I came up with a system because she was running with Renee. They were still in my eye sight, so I told coach mom to raise her hand and I would walk, when I see the raised hand, again, I knew it was time to run. Coach mom had me on a 2:1 ratio. Here are a few of my thoughts:

• I have to get contacts so my glasses will not fog up
• As I ran past a house on the trail, I smelled bacon! I wanted to run to the house and knock on the door to ask for some!
• I had to use the restroom and was trying to figure out if there were enough bushes to hide me (I waited until I got home, by the way)
• I was wishing coach mom wouldn't see me so I could walk longer
• I couldn't wait to be done
• I was glad i finished strong

This week with the weather being so wet, coach mom had to improvise with the game plan. We did floor work in our living room while listening to the music channel. We heard some old skool tunes on that channel (i.e. Fat Boys, Pharcyde, Boyz to Men, and the like). We also had some great laughs as we were listening to the lyrics!

Overall, as I still ponder the question to run or not to run, I am really having a great time with my mom and Renee. I know that I am only two weeks into this experience. I know I am learning my body in a different way. And I know I will dig deep to discover the answer why I am running.

How it all began....

So, this is how my marathon plan began.....I sent my mom an email on December 3, 2009. Prior to that, I had been speaking to a friend about this goal, but hadn't talked about with others at that point. I finally let my mom know what was up....







Hi Ma,



I've been thinking about this for sometime and have just begun to verbalize what it is I want to do. You may have even heard me casually mention it, but I'm not really sure. I'm seriously thinking about RUNNING, not walking a 1/2 marathon by my 40th birthday. Don't get terribly excited, yet as I'm still talking myself into it. By telling you, I'm almost to the full commitment stage of preparing for this event. What woman better to help me cross the finish line?? Um, that would be you!

Your credentials:

• inspired to run


• ability to maintain excitement


• ability to motivate others


• multi-marathon finisher, including, NY Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Big Sur, San Diego Rock n Roll, San Jose Rock n Roll, and countless other events that I can't even name


• trained and mentored others to the finish line


• committed


• you're my mom!

So, perhaps, we can have a casual conversation about what it takes to be a marathon runner.

Some topics I'd like to cover are:

how one prepares to run with a big butt, how to get over the fear of running, and what ever else, I'm missing. Renee even mentioned that she would run, too!

Thank you in advance for being my mentor, coach, and most of all, mom.

I love you lots,

Juvella

1st Day of Training

Saturday was my first day of training to run my 1st 1/2 marathon. Renee is training, too. I had a good time and mom wasn't too hard on us. She did ask me how I was doing, a lot. At some point, it was really starting to annoy, but I had to remember that that is what coaches do. They want to make sure your form is correct to avoid injuries, keep you motivated, and because they care. Once I resolved that is what mom was doing, I was no longer annoyed. At the end, I finished strong, and mom was there to cheer and high-five us.