Thursday, October 15, 2009

blog change

Remember the "More Than a Ride" blog has changed addresses to a free standing blog.
www.morethanaride.com

If you are not sure what to do, here is what you do.

Go to www.morethanaride.com and click on register and follow the directions or click on the RSS feed an click how you would like to receive the updates from the blog. There is a new blog post today and more to come and I would hate for you to be left out of the loop. :o) Let me know if you are having any problems.

Keep connected with the journey!
-Rhonda

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Also an issue that is on the rise and increasing. Especially with cancer expected to take the lead in 2010 for cause of death. So sad considering many cancers can be prevented and treated if caught early enough, such as breast cancer. Be sure to get to know the facts about Breast Cancer at www.livestrong.org or www.komen.org. Both sites have excellent information and about treatment options.

In case you didn't know, the Susan G. Komen Foundaiton was started by a sister who made a promise to her sister when she was dieing of cancer. It is now the largest foundation with a single cancer focus. There are all sorts of Breast Cancer Awareness events in Roanoke, VA and beyond, be sure to find an event near you and help build awareness. Guys, do not you are at risk too!
According to the CDC (Centers of Disease Control):
# 186,467 women and 1,764 men were diagnosed with breast cancer.
# 41,116 women and 375 men died from breast cancer.


Get to know the facts and do a self exam once a month!

Be aware!
-Rhonda

Sunday, October 4, 2009

13.1/26.2 Challenge & FREE Entry Contest

"13.1/26.2 Challenge & FREE Entry CONTEST" Posted on the blog www.morethanaride.com.

”Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.”
~William Ellery Channing

So far, there are four people who have accepted the challenge set forth to join me in a life changing 13.1 miles!

Here is your chance to get a FREE entry into The Blue Ridge Parkway Marathon and Half Marathon (www.blueridgeparkwaymarthon.com)!

I completely will admit that the training guide that I am going to use is from the book mentioned a few weeks ago in the blog post “Rainy Day Reading”. The half marathon training schedule that I am using is from, The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women, by Dawn Dais. If you do not have the book, email me (Rhonda@morethanaride.com) and I will get you a copy of the schedule, though you may enjoy the book.

If you are like me and have never in your life participated in or thought you would be doing a half marathon, then this helpful schedule will be just what you need. With a run group and a walk/run group for a half marathon, it takes you over a 20 week time frame. Those 20 weeks will start in December 2009. Yes it will be cold then!

Now, to help you even more with accepting this most amazing challenge of joining me over 13.1 miles and how you can get a FREE entry into The Blue Ridge Parkway Marathon and Half Marathon (www.blueridgeparkwaymarthon.com), all you have to do is answer a question. The weather is getting cold and for most of us it is requiring more gear than simply lacing up sneakers and throwing on a T-shirt and shorts.
What is your preferred source of warmth on those cold days of training through the winter?
A. Tights (sleek like a gazelle)
B. Track warm up pants (the whistling would sound neat)
C. Tough it out in the shorts (my legs lost feeling years ago)
D. Take it to the gym (I’m a weather princess)

Email me at Rhonda@morethanaride.com or post a comment on this blog post. Your name will be thrown into a hat, well more like a fish bowl or salad bowl, seeing as how I do not have a nifty top hat laying about the house. But either way your name will be added and winner will randomly be drawn from submissions between today October 5, 2009 to October 19, 2009, will be entered and a name. Remember your email and name has to be included in the response so that you can get cool updates on The Blue Ridge Parkway Marathon and be notified if you won.

Good luck!
-Rhonda

1 mile

1 mile as posted to the new site www.morethanaride.com! Go join today, only a few more posts left on this site.

“All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers. “
~Henry David Thoreau


One mile never seemed to be so far as when I took the first step. Retracing in my head the steps I had just taken, with intervals of 2 and a half minutes of running and 2 minutes of walking. I knew the distance I was going to have to cross to complete the task at hand.

A runner passed, giving a big smile and a “thumbs up” just before I got to the half mile point. I just had a group of girl runners run past me leaving me in their dust watching them gracefully bound away out of site. This left me wondering why I was even bothering. Then I remembered I set a really cool goal and I kept going. That “thumbs up” came at the right moment, then I was at half a mile. I had just finished a half a mile two days earlier so I knew it was achievable, but knows an off day is a possibility. Slowly up the little incline (which feels like a hill), half a mile and beyond, I was now running to the next goal of one mile. I had to keep reminding myself to go slow, to just reach the goal and not allow myself to get excited at this point.

Then at .75 of a mile I started to chant my mantra as the road beneath my feet started to feel like a conveyor belt moving in the other direction, keeping me from moving forward. With every other step I spoke a new word under my breath, “Yo..soy..una..machina*.”, and I kept with it. Then a woman passed, we had seen her every morning since we started, I told her with a quiver in my voice (from excitement) that I was about to finish my first mile without stopping. Then I told a stranger that blew past me. I was proud of my almost accomplishment.

With blubbering tears of joy, I finished the last steps up the incline over the other side of the bridge. Wanting to run to Tammy and Lisa to tell them of my most amazing accomplishment, my body needed to stop and walk for a while. I was still crying tears of joy when I got to them, because I had just finished running my first mile since high school.

I am ashamed of saying that we have driven past people who are running along the side of the road, probably looking a lot like I do now when I run; I have said, “why bother at that point? Just walk”. Well now I know and I am sorry! As my friend Lisa said, you had the “runners bounce” and that is what matters. That little bounce makes a difference, it is tougher and it does make you work. I had sweat rolling and bouncing off. It may not have been a graceful gazelle running across the park along the greenway, but I was running. Now after that first mile of running without walking, I feel like I can call myself a runner, although I felt like a runner with my intervals and proud of every step I take no matter how they are take!

Baby steps!
-Rhonda
*translation: Yo soy una machine = I am a machine. :o) It works!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Happy October!

Happy October! as posted at www.morethanaride.com, do not forget to join the new blog site so you can keep getting updates. Let me know if are having trouble.

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal."
~ Henry Ford

It is October and Breast cancer Awareness month and tomorrow is LIVESTRONG Day so be sure to wear your yellow LIVESTRONG wristband or other gear. If you do not have a wristband, let me know, I still have some and all the money goes to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. You can also get shirts, shorts, shoes and other LIVESTRONG Gear at Dick’s Sporting goods or through their website www.livestrong.org, though it may not reach you in time for tomorrow.

With October comes cold weather and boy I should have put on some running tights or something more than shorts. It was chilly and my legs are still chilly, I must have forgotten it was fall. It might have been the extreme cold after my first .75 miles on the return trip, when I decided to see if I could run for half a mile solid without stopping. I kept my watch timer counting down to two and a half minutes, just in case. It beeped and I reset it. About that time I was running up toward Walter and told him with as much excitement as I could muster that I had just ran for five minutes and was shooting for half a mile. It was not much faster than my walk, but I had the “running bounce” happening, the rest will fall into place. I ran for a whole half a mile (actually close to .6 tenths of a mile) without stopping!!! I was giddy with excitement!!!

I am just amazed at how well I have done! It is tough; some days are easier than others, some days you feel like you are really doing great and others you feel like your legs are of cement. The thing on those tough days that I try to remember is that I cannot compare myself to the gals that just left me in the dust. What I do have to remember is that I am out and moving my body and doing more today than I had done yesterday. It is about doing it!

LIVESTRONG!
-Rhonda