I Asked For It…

Another month, another challenge. There are two days left in June and I have been doing the 25 squats every day, not counting whatever Jeff adds into my training sets. I’ve had plenty of days where I had done the squats upon waking and then completely forgot and did the 25 in a moment of ‘did I or didn’t I?’ I never really thought of this daily squat thing as something of a challenge since I actually enjoy doing squats and I appreciate all that they do for that ‘problem area.’ If anything, the more I did them, all the better, I say!

So this Wednesday marks a new month and wouldn’t you know…I texted Jeff late last week to check to see what July would bring. I could have sworn I remembered him saying that I would be doing a combination of squats and pushups to sort to bring the last two months together but I was totally off. A 60 second plank.

Planks used to scare me. I especially was scared of planks that I had to do on my own, without Jeff coaching me on FaceTime and making sure my form is right. Doing a plank and counting to 60 out loud had proven to be not quite as effective as using a timer on my phone but that seems to take twice as long. Over time though, I have gotten more comfortable with planks and I don’t do that ‘you want me to do what?!’ thing when Jeff tells me to get into plank position. I know it’s great for my core and it tests my mental endurance for sure but I also know I won’t forget that I did it earlier in the day and feel pumped to do another one ‘just because.’ I’ll embrace that inner athlete of mine and plank it up every day for the next month but I think I might need to hold back from asking Jeff what’s in store for August!

Going The Distance

This morning, I went out for a run with a 10k distance as a goal but not quite so sure that I would be able to get it done. I hadn’t put on my running shoes since last Friday as I was rear ended in a collision this past Monday and I had been dealing with some whiplash/headache symptoms as a result. Running was off the table but I was able to walk and spin and train with Jeff, who once again worked around things to allow me to train safely and effectively. I knew running would be there if I gave myself a few days or however long it would take me to feel back to myself and sure enough, I was feeling well enough yesterday to consider putting on those running shoes again.

So a 10k was a lofty goal and as I said, I wasn’t all that sure that I would be able to do it. I didn’t know if running would trigger the headache pressure I had been having earlier in the week (it didn’t!) and I didn’t know if I would run with the intensity I have been pushing in the last few outdoor runs (I did!). I stuck to my route for the most part, running first through my suburb and then heading into the next to get me to Shaker Blvd where I then began my run through the Beachwood Gorden park. It felt so good to run along the path there and at 7 in the morning, there were a few people walking along the way but I mostly had the path to myself. It gave me a chance to take in my surroundings and acknowledge to myself how fortunate I felt to be out and about again and back on the path that I used to frequent yet have only been on once this past year. I tried not to look at my watch too often but I took a peek now and then just to see how far I’ve gone, rather than how fast I might have been going. I wasn’t thinking at all about my time or my pace….all I wanted to know was how far I had gone at such and such a point. Once I reached four miles, I figured I was feeling good and I had more in me and hey, why not go for that 10k distance and get that virtual 10k badge from Strava?!

As I ran through the next two plus miles, I thought about how lucky I was to be running again. Granted, it had only been a few days that I was off but it could have been so much worse and I am grateful I am feeling back to myself and able to run again. I have had many ‘sideline’ periods over this running journey of mine where I broke my foot or had a calf strain or after a surgery and I learned the phrase ‘running will be there.’ It was always there…not necessarily in the way it had been before that sidelining but it was always there. Sometimes, I got right back into it on day one while other times, it was there for me but I wasn’t there for it and it would take time to find that joy and drive again. This morning’s run provided that joy and drive. It was there when I was ready for it and it was pretty darn great!

Embracing My Inner Athlete

The day has come and I am holding a copy of my book Embracing My Inner Athlete. It was released yesterday and you can find it on Amazon, Library Tales Publishing and in the coming days, on Barnes & Noble. It is a dream come true…well, this whole journey of mine is a dream come true but to be able to share it all — the highs and the lows and everything in between — that is a whole other dream.

The book was originally titled You Want Me To Do What?! — like this blog of mine but it was too common a title when my publisher checked out the market. I came up with the Embracing My Inner Athlete but I wasn’t entirely sold on this as I was still a bit hesitant about referring to myself as an athlete. I mean…me, an athlete?! It sounded a bit bold and even a bit arrogant for me to refer to myself as an athlete.

I’m the girl who caught a softball with her eye instead of her brother’s mitt. I’m the wife and mom who tripped over a step and broke her foot on the way out of a metropark restroom. I’m the same wife and mom who tripped on a sidewalk (notice a pattern???) while taking a leisurely walk. Me? An Athlete? I certainly didn’t think of myself as an athlete when I began this journey in 2014. I had been living this life where I was caught up with everybody else’s goings on and making sure that everything was taken care of for them, yet I wasn’t thinking all that much about what I needed for myself. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have a hobby. I didn’t have a sport. The decision to prioritize myself —- and ultimately work out with Jeff and take up fitness and running —- changed my life for the better. The journey has seen me do things I never thought possible…that I assumed to be too hard….that I thought I was too old…too weak…to whatever. From half marathons to Spartans and from trail running to getting back in the pool after years of sitting on the sidelines, I have learned to embrace my inner athlete.

Embracing My Inner Athlete tells the story of a wife and mother who is proof that it is never too late to change your life and nothing is truly too hard or impossible. From couch potato to athlete, I have embraced it all and I am here to say that you are stronger than you think.

Happy Global Running Day!

Today is Global Running Day and I celebrated myself as a runner by running 4.23 miles through my neighborhood. Like I typically do, I had a route planned out for a six mile plus run AND I also told myself that I would go out there and see how it goes. I am not officially training for anything. No one is telling me what to do and how to do it. I am the driver in this run and so, I went out there and I just ran.

Just ran. It’s a concept that I could never imagine for myself when I started out with running and got into it. Back in 2015 and 2016, my paces were in the 8’s and the 9’s and I could run four, five, six miles straight with no problem. Then it became a problem where I battled with myself over whether or not I could pull such paces and such distances off and I convinced myself that I wasn’t as good of a runner as I had been earlier on. I would go out for runs and stop short or switch to a walk, telling myself that I was too tired and running any further was too hard. I started to use the phrase, ‘I have to go out for a run now’ or ‘I had to get my miles in.’ Running became a burden…something that came with a sense of a task that was not fun and perhaps, even a burden.

I had to work a lot on my mindset and turn things around in order to come back and really allow myself to keep running. I had to stop focusing on my running watch to see my time and my pace. I had to start focusing on what I was seeing and what I was experiencing as I went out for a run. I had to stop comparing my time and my pace to how I ran in my earlier years. And I had to start thinking of running as an opportunity and appreciate what it gave to me. Once I stopped thinking of running as something ‘I had to do’ and started thinking of running as something ‘I got to do’, everything shifted and I found that joy again.

Today I ran 4.23 miles. My paces were numbers I hadn’t seen in I don’t know how long but they really didn’t matter. I ran 4.23 miles and through those miles, I smiled and said hello as I passed other walkers and runners. I waved to a runner friend as he drove past me. I looked up at the blue sky and marveled at its glorious color. The numbers didn’t matter. All that mattered was that I was running on Global Running Day…celebrating the fact that I ‘could’ run. Running is a gift. I can’t and I don’t take it for granted.

A New Month, A New Challenge And So Much More!

Today is June 1 and I am onto a new monthly challenge. The month of May saw me doing 25 push ups a day…sometimes, a whole lot more if it was a training day with Jeff and he had push ups as a part of his workout plan for me. With it being a whole new month and all, I am onto squats. I will be doing 25 squats a day and day 1 is already checked off as done!

The month of June is also going to see the release of my book, Embracing My Inner Athlete. I first wrote the manuscript back in 2023 and started the process of signing and working with the team at Library Tales Publishing in the summer of 2024 and the book is being released on June 9! I have been working hard at doing podcast interviews on all kinds of podcasts — running, women’s health, motherhood, weight issues — and I am learning how to come out of my shell and be comfortable enough in sharing my personal journey of how I evolved from sedentary wife and mother of five to a runner and athlete. I have a hard time talking about myself and sharing so much of myself with others but through it all, I am comfortable enough to promote my message about prioritizing one’s health and knowing that it’s never too late to start on a goal.

When ‘Good Enough’ Isn’t Enough

I was doing so well with the push up challenge, getting in my 25 push ups each day, in addition to any others that Jeff has had me do during our training sessions. (Those extra ones don’t count, by the way!) I was on a roll, having done those push ups each day…sometimes all at once and sometime, broken up with 15 here and 10 there.

This past Tuesday night, I was in bed and having a hard time falling asleep and I realized that I hadn’t done my push ups. It was well after 11 PM and I was having this internal dialogue with myself. ‘You did 25 days…that’s good enough.’ ‘But good enough is the full month.’ ‘You can start back up tomorrow and just say you missed one day.’ ‘But I don’t want to miss a day.’

I didn’t want ‘good enough’ to be 25 days and then stop because I almost forgot and gave up. I promptly got out of bed and went into the bathroom and there I was, doing the 25 push ups on my bathroom floor and doing them with a little extra vigor and motivation. I told Jeff about it the next day and he commended me on sticking to the challenge and not allowing myself to stop, just because it was late in the day and I had forgotten.

This whole running and fitness journey has made me evolve in so many ways and one of them has been my not listening to that voice that says, ‘enough is enough’ or ‘it’s okay to not do it.’ I could have easily stayed in bed and let the clock go past midnight and tell myself that it would be okay to have done the challenge for 25 days consistently but hey, things happen and I couldn’t get through the whole month. But I didn’t. I knew that I would regret it if I didn’t seize the opportunity to stick to this goal and make it happen…in its entirety. I will do the entire month and I will be able to look back and take pride in my having accomplished the challenge of doing 25 push ups every single day for an entire month. Not 24 on some days. Not saying ‘well, Jeff had me do three circuits of 15 push ups each so I can count those.’ A goal was set and on the first day of June, I will be able to say ‘I did it.’

In A Good Place

I say that I am in a good place as I think about where I am right now. I’m on day 18 of my push up challenge and it’s going great. Some days, I can do all 25 together and some days, I’ll do 10 or 12 or 15 and take a little break before finishing with the rest. I don’t even care when Jeff has me doing push ups in my training sessions and he doesn’t count my daily challenge…it’s extra credit, if you will.

I just did a three plus mile run outside in some warmer-than-usual-weather for me and I shared on my Instagram how I used to limit myself to a certain temperature range for running outside because I didn’t think I could handle the heat. Well, I handled this run just fine! I managed it…meaning, I didn’t push to run faster but I gave it my all. I could have run inside but I really wanted to be outside and enjoy running along the streets of our neighborhood and I’m so glad I got out. I keep the pace steady and ran up some of the hillier streets but paid attention to my breathing so that I wasn’t huffing and puffing all over the place.

I have signed up for a few races over the next few months – a 5k in two weeks, a 10k night run in Jerusalem and a 4 mile trail run in July. I’m not training for any of these races…I’m just happy to sign up, show up and do my own thing. This whole running thing started 11 years ago and I have evolved in a way where I realized that I don’t have to run the way I ran in those earlier years. I get as much joy today…maybe even more so, today…because I realize there is so much more to running than the pace and the distance and the time. It’s about running on the street of my neighborhood in the 70’s and saying hi to a neighbor passing by and him commenting, ‘good for you!’ And I am good. I am in a good place.

Push It Up

It’s been more than a minute since Jeff dared me to do a challenge. Through our nearly 12 years of working together, he has had me do some real doozies: a squat challenge, a burpee challenge, a 90 day core movement challenge that I had to come up with on my own. Being accountable to a challenge is a really good change up from doing the same old, same old but honestly, I am not feeling bored whatsoever. Whatever the challenge, it’s a nice extra boost to my daily routine and I have found that each and every challenge I’ve done has offered some really great results in terms of improved body composition and that all so important strength and mobility.

This past Thursday, I had just completed my fifth round of a segment where I had done 10 push ups each time, followed by a plank and a whole bunch of hip bridges. Jeff must have heard me thinking to myself, wow…I just did 50 push ups’ because the next thing I knew, he said maybe it’s time for a little push up challenge. As history has it, anytime the word ‘challenge’ had been uttered by Jeff, I would get a little antsy…maybe, a lot nervous because I would have this fear and this lack of confidence that would tell me that there was no way I could do such a challenge. I can’t say that I am without any fears and I still have battles with my self confidence but I have come a long way with being willing to hear past the word ‘challenge’ and think a bit about how I CAN do it, rather than assume I CAN’T.

Jeff’s suggestion this time was a 30 day push up challenge. Nothing crazy…just 25 push ups per day and I can break it up if I need or want to. I immediately said okay since it sounded pretty doable and I could make it work into my day some way or another. When I think back to when I first started working out with Jeff nearly 12 years ago, I could barely manage what we call a modified push up, where I have my hands on the ground and I am on bended knees while pushing my upper body up and down. A ‘real’ push up was so out of my realm and it would take me several years to work on getting it right and getting it done to the point where I can do 10 or 15 or 25. This push up challenge isn’t just about improving my core and working on my upper body strength. This push up challenge is about tackling something that once seemed too hard…even impossible…and reminding myself that I am stronger and more capable than I think.

A Run Of Celebration

This morning, I headed out to do a run and while I had a 10k route planned in my head, I also went out with the intention to run according to feel…however my legs and my body would allow me to go. I really didn’t know if I would go the full distance and I didn’t know how my pace would feel; after all, I had just traveled over the last two days and I didn’t know how I would feel. As I ran along the streets and through the surrounding neighborhoods, I told myself I would ‘just run…’ that I wasn’t making this about getting a certain time…even if I did reach that 10k. This run was all about celebrating.

Today is my father-in-law’s birthday and I was dedicating this run to him. Had it not been for our little talk nearly 12 years ago…that talk where he told me that he saw I was always doing something much for others but that I needed to do something for me and make myself a priority. That talk led me to call our community center and set up an appointment with one of their trainers and well, that was the beginning of my fitness and running story. Dad gave me the gentle push to think of myself…what I needed…what I was missing…and he has been supportive of everything I have done along the way since our talk.

Today is also something of a whole other birthday…my running birthday, if you will. A Facebook memory showed up and reminded me that 11 years ago today, I went out on my very first 5k run as a practice run for that first 5k race I would be doing a few weeks later. A few months before — at our very first meeting — I had shared my wish with Jeff to be able to run but never had I imagined that I would actually see that happen. But it did happen and it all started on this very day 11 years ago, where I took those steps towards pursuing a goal and making it happen.

Just Another Ordinary Run

I didn’t have much of a plan for my run this morning, other than the route I had mapped out and even that, I changed a few things along the way. I didn’t know what I would listen to in terms of music until I saw that I have only half of a Podrunner episode left so I chose to ‘shuffle’ with a Run playlist on my Apple Music. I didn’t know what my distance would be but I knew I wanted to go at least three or four miles. It was going to be just another ordinary run.

Just another ordinary run that turned out pretty extraordinary. I hadn’t run more than a block when I passed the first of three friends I would see on my run. I waved hi to her and to the two other friends I would see…friends who have been encouraging me with my running over the years and if that didn’t give me a little extra pep in my step…

I enjoyed the run…all 4.3 miles of it. It felt great to be outside on a gorgeous day where I could see kids boarding the school bus and running through the Shaker park that I haven’t been to since last year. I felt invigorated and energized as I ran along Richmond Road, wondering if my daughter would pass me by on her way to taking the kids to school and they would tell me tomorrow that they saw their Savta running. I finished my run and stopped at Starbucks for a drink and on my way out, another customer said she saw me running on Richmond and thought I was so cool and that she wishes she could run. I thanked her and said I am 57 and she can do anything she wishes…she just needs to take that first step and if I can do it, anyone can!

So this run that started out as just another ordinary run…it ended up being pretty awesome and extraordinary!