Starting anew - Ann Jacobson
I am 48 years old, and have lived in Monterey for about 23 years. I'm a librarian at the Naval Postgraduate School. I've always enjoyed working out, but had a long hiatus while my daughters were growing up. About three and a half years ago when my eldest headed off to college I joined a local gym, which really changed my life (and my body). I trained with a small group there for the 2004 Big Sur Half Marathon, which I completed and really enjoyed, but unfortunately, the following year while in another training group I got badly injured and had to take about 8 months off from running. So this summer I decided to begin training for the half on my own. I started with about 3 miles in July, and have been gradually building up ever since. I ran Big Sur Half Marathon this past October. I had promised myself that if I enjoyed it and remained uninjured, that I would join the local running club (Wednesday Night Laundry Runners). I did that this past November. It's been a lot of fun. The people are very friendly and supportive.
I signed up for the 21 miler instead of the full marathon mainly because I felt that going from a flat half marathon to the hilly Big Sur Marathon was too big a jump, and I'm really committed to trying to stay injury-free, and to enjoying myself while running if I possibly can!. I intend to run the full 21 miles. My ultimate goal is actually to run the Paris Marathon next spring with a friend of mine who lives in Italy. This is a good step toward that.
My most important training aid
I never thought I'd be one of those runners with white earbuds jammed into my ears. I prided myself on being completely aware of and engaged in my immediate surroundings. But as late fall arrived and it became too dark to run in the mornings, I was forced indoors onto the treadmill. If you've ever run five or more miles on a treadmill, you know how the time can drag. So when I bought iPods for my husband and daughter for Christmas, I snuck in a little matchbook-sized iPod shuffle. At first I loaded music from our personal CD collection onto it, but that took a lot of work and wasn't very satisfactory. Then I discovered Podrunner (http://www.djsteveboy.com/podrunner.html). Now every week or so I download a new, free, hour long mix of music at just the right tempo for a brisk run. It keeps me motivated and energized on my treadmill runs and makes it a lot easier to do speed work, and when I'm alone on my outdoor runs (I don't run with music when I'm with people), it helps me to keep a brisk, steady pace. I'm concerned about safety outdoors, so if I do use it on outdoor runs, I keep the volume low so I can hear people approaching, traffic, and other sounds. While I sometimes worry that the music has become a crutch, I find that now that I have it, I look forward more to my solo runs whether indoors or outdoors.
(Published on behalf of Ann G. Jacobson.)
I signed up for the 21 miler instead of the full marathon mainly because I felt that going from a flat half marathon to the hilly Big Sur Marathon was too big a jump, and I'm really committed to trying to stay injury-free, and to enjoying myself while running if I possibly can!. I intend to run the full 21 miles. My ultimate goal is actually to run the Paris Marathon next spring with a friend of mine who lives in Italy. This is a good step toward that.
My most important training aid
I never thought I'd be one of those runners with white earbuds jammed into my ears. I prided myself on being completely aware of and engaged in my immediate surroundings. But as late fall arrived and it became too dark to run in the mornings, I was forced indoors onto the treadmill. If you've ever run five or more miles on a treadmill, you know how the time can drag. So when I bought iPods for my husband and daughter for Christmas, I snuck in a little matchbook-sized iPod shuffle. At first I loaded music from our personal CD collection onto it, but that took a lot of work and wasn't very satisfactory. Then I discovered Podrunner (http://www.djsteveboy.com/podrunner.html). Now every week or so I download a new, free, hour long mix of music at just the right tempo for a brisk run. It keeps me motivated and energized on my treadmill runs and makes it a lot easier to do speed work, and when I'm alone on my outdoor runs (I don't run with music when I'm with people), it helps me to keep a brisk, steady pace. I'm concerned about safety outdoors, so if I do use it on outdoor runs, I keep the volume low so I can hear people approaching, traffic, and other sounds. While I sometimes worry that the music has become a crutch, I find that now that I have it, I look forward more to my solo runs whether indoors or outdoors.
(Published on behalf of Ann G. Jacobson.)
posted by dave kellogg at 5:16 AM
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