Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Life beyond 5k

Last week, my company released the names of the top female and male finisher's from the Corporate Challenge.  I was the top female finisher (with the next woman coming in 7 minutes behind me).

Now every time I introduce myself, I receive comments like:

"Oh, so you're J(oanna)..."

Or when I see aquaintances in passing:

"Hey - I saw your name..."

And although these moments can be embarassing, today it proved to actually be a good thing.

I was walking down the hall and saw a man who is in my group.  He mentioned seeing my name and then we got to talking about running and such. I told him about my lung issues and how it affected me in the race.  He said that he has had that same problem in the past and he knew how to fix it.

When you first start to feel the cramp coming on, pay attention to your cadence and how it corresponds to your breathing.  So say you are running and breathing when your right foot strikes.  Simply switch it up and start breathing when your left foot strikes and this hopefully will releive the problem.

Although I hope to never have the lung problem/cramp again, I definitely want to try this and see if it works!  It could be a life saver in the middle of a race!

This conversion got me thinking about my running and racing.  I mean I seriously have run enough 5k's already!  But I love to have the speed that training for shorter races brings.  I just need a training partner who can train for a half marathon or even a full marathon with me.

That is why I want to try and start a women's running group at work.  I think it would be fun to get together with other women and run together.  It is healthy and social!  We already have a women's network here at my work and at the next meeting I think I will bring it up!  Let's just hope I have some takers who want to run with me!

We will see what happens!! Happy Wednesday!

27 comments:

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Holy smokes - you were 7 minutes in front of the next fastest person in your company? now that is impressive!

Good luck forming a running group! Sounds like a great idea. There is an informal running group where I work but it never works out for me to run w/ them - esp now that I am doing runs w/ the a running store running group! My previous employer had a HUGE running group. They had t-shirts and did monthly seminars and all, so they were the real deal. It was pretty cool! They had this sharepoint site where you could enter your pace and when you like to run so you could find fellow training partners. Pretty cool!

Jen Feeny said...

That's great that you found a possible solution to the lung problem.

As for a running group, I think it's a great idea! Good luck! Also, hit up meetup.com or even Daily Mile to find people in your area interested in training. Does your local running store host a running group?

Amber said...

I LOVE running with other people, especially other women. I feel more relaxed when running with women vs. men!

Marlene said...

Definitely cool to get some recognition at work for being J (the fast one)! LOL!

AWESOME idea to start a women's running group. And did you just say full marathon?? :D

Anonymous said...

Wow awesome job! I think starting a running group at work would be great!! I'm really interesting to hear more about the lung thing.. how did that guy figure this out? I would have never thought of that!

Anonymous said...

Wow awesome job! I think starting a running group at work would be great!! I'm really interesting to hear more about the lung thing.. how did that guy figure this out? I would have never thought of that!

Nicole said...

What great advice! I hope it works for you!! :-)))) we just started running with coworkers at work too! It's fun!

Sarah K said...

I just started following and wanted to say hi :-)
A running group is such a great idea! I just ran a race with three colleagues and it was really fun!

Suzy said...

Congrats on being the top female finisher!!! I hope the advice works and you don't have any more lung/cramp issues.

Lisa said...

Congratulations on your first place! That's awesome!

And it's very cool that you want to start a running group at work. I did that a few years ago, very informally, and we lasted for a good 3 years! The number would fluxuate depending on work loads, but it was a great way to do something healthy, get to know people better and enjoy the outdoors! Good luck! Can't wait to hear how it goes!

Teamarcia said...

Congrats on your 7-minute supremacy! I love the running club idea--run with it!

Anonymous said...

totally go for it re: starting a woman's running group. i bet you'd be such an inspiration to many!

Kim said...

CONGRATS! You are awesome! Superstar!

Keep us posted on what you decide for half or full marathon training. And a women's running group from work would be fun.

ajh said...

Sounds like a great idea. Very impressive that you were 7 minutes ahead!

Anonymous said...

Wow - what a lead!
Congratulations on your well earned outcome!

teacherwoman said...

Running with other people can definitely be a great thing! :)

Anne said...

Congrats! Amazing lead! Setting up a running group at work sounds great.

abbi said...

Hi! I just recently started following you and wanted to say hello. Interesting thing on the lung/cramp thing, will have to keep it in mind. Hope the running group works out!

Glenn Jones said...

Great idea - starting a group at work. At least everyone will be on the same schedule. If that doesn't work out, I'm sure there's a running club around...

Molly said...

Nice job speedy! I think the running group is a great idea, especially now that it's summer, I'll bet you have a lot of takers.

Amy said...

Starting a running group sounds like a great idea! Especially if you're thinking of training for a longer race. I wish I had someone to run with regularly for my long runs as they get longer and longer.

Jamie said...

Yea for the work shout-out! Good luck getting a work running group going.

MCM Mama said...

Awesome job! Good luck putting together a training group. That would be a lot of fun!

Anonymous said...

A training group sounds like fun! There are a group of us that run together from work- we are going to do a relay this year together too- it is so much nice to work out with friends!

Miranda said...

Congrats on your 5K, that is amazing! I just started reading The Complete Book of Running for Women and it talks a lot of breathing and foot stike patterns, you might want to check it out.

Runner Leana said...

That is great advice about the breathing! I always breathe out on a right foot strike.

And what a great idea to start a running group! Good luck!

Kim said...

Congrats on being the top finisher for women! That is too awesome! I hope the breathing advice helps if you do end up needing it.

I think a women's work running group sounds like a great idea!