Running changes lives

Why do people love running? Running is a great way to stay active and get rid of negative energy. Whenever I run I feel relaxed and stress free. I usually run at night because I love feeling the cold air hit my face and to me, it’s easier to breathe when it’s cold. At night, there are hardly any people around, only a few who walk their dogs. Running at night is kind of scary at times so I make sure I tell my mom or dad when I leave and always run around the school I live by so they know where I’m at. Since I haven’t gotten my pepper spray yet, I run with scissors:P  I know that’s not the safest thing to run with, but I want to be able to protect and defend myself if something ever happened. I remember one time I was running and then this dog came out of nowhere, barked, and chased me! Haha I was so scared. I guess the dog got out because the owner came running after her and told me that he was sorry and that she doesn’t bite. Another funny incident was when I was running and two guys were driving slowly alongside of me. They were yelling stuff out the window, but I didn’t have my glasses or contacts on so I couldn’t tell who it was. I was scared so I ran faster and they would keep up with me in their car. I thought they were creepy guys that had nothing better to do, but turns out it was one of my best guy friends :P It was funny because I had my scissors ready and when my friend came out I laughed.

I think running shapes and changes you as a person. I use to be a shy, heavy girl and I feel like because of running, it kind of brought me out of my shell and gave me more confidence. I’m still a little shy when I first meet people, but I feel like it has improved than when I was younger. I’m twenty pounds lighter and I’m doing things my family and I would have never thought I’d do. I read a lot of magazines and articles about running, mostly about women, and there are so many stories about how running changed a person’s life. People tell how it got them out of obesity, got them through a family members death, and how running opened many doors for them. I encourage everyone to give running a try, and I hope I continue running for the rest of my life.

I get a lot of free health and fitness magazines since I run marathons and this is one of my favorties.

https://www.womensrunning.com/home

"Women's Running is the world's largest women-specific running magazine.
Women's Running covers all aspects of the running lifestyle, from active beauty needs to training plans. The Women's Running mission is simple: to create a high-quality magazine for smart, successful women who use running to balance and enrich their lives. Women's Running features quality editorial that motivates women to train intelligently, participate in active travel, adopt healthy nutrition habits and keep moving.
Women's Running is distributed at over 4,000 retailers including Barnes & Noble, Borders, REI, Dick's Sporting Goods, Eastern Mountain Sports, and other independent, specialty retailers."

ITBS

While running the Long Beach marathon October 23 2010, I injured my left knee. I’ve had knee injuries before but nothing like this one. The weekend after the race was the WCCTC triathlon camp, a camp where collegiate teams go to so they can train and meet other students in that same sport. I was new to the Tri team at CSULB so of course I wanted to go even with my knee problems. Well, that was a BIG mistake. The morning after we arrived we woke up at 6:30am to be out for a run at 7. The camp took place at San Luis Obispo, meaning lots of hills. Our practice was to run 6 miles through a hilly forest like area. I am the type of person that even when my body hurts and wants me to stop, I don’t. I like to push my limits until I have finished the workout intended. Number 1 rule in running is always know when to stop. Since I didn’t want to take a break, relax and rest my knee. My knee blew out. I ran the last mile limping and crying. When I finally reached the end, one of my teammates had to help me get back to the cabin because it was very difficult to walk. From a 1 to a 10, 10 being the worst, the pain was a 10. I laid on the floor, took some pain relief pills and put ice on my knee for 10 minutes. After, my teammate lifted my leg and bended my knee so he could figure out what was wrong. To me the feeling felt like someone was stabbing my knee with a screw diver and twisting it around. Yes, it was that bad. I couldn’t walk, bend my leg, or get up from the ground without help. Turns out I had Iliotibial Band Syndrome, which is common in athletes. It is caused by increasing mileage or intensity too fast or by running on a slope.

The only way to treat this problem is to do stretches and give it time to heal. I’ve had it for about 2 months already and I can walk without feeling pain again but it begins to hurt after running about 5 miles. Before I was injured I ran 6 miles every day. Now I run a few miles a week so I don’t aggravate it to much. To a runner, this is devastating. Not being able to run as much as you did before sucks. But I’ve learned my lesson. When your body tells you to stop, STOP! Because you will regret later on.

Have I mentioned that I already bought a LA Marathon ticket? Since it’s a month away, chances are, I won’t be able to race because it would be too many miles for my knee to handle but, I’m going to stay positive and keep praying that my knee will get better and hopefully I will be able to race.

So this video just explains what ITBS is and shows some examples on how to cure it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gVawB-is4A

Becoming a Triathlete

So I finally did a triathlon! And let me tell you, it was amazing!

5 am, day of triathlon

On Saturday night I cleaned my bike, put everything I needed in my bag, and went to bed at 8:40pm. I woke up at 4:30 in the morning so we could hit the road at 5 o’clock. When we got to UCI, it was dark and cold! We immediately went to get our body marked so we could enter the transition area and get everything set up. Each participate has a different starting time. The race started at 7am and I started at 7:08. It was already 6:50 so a couple of us got changed and went down to the pool barefoot. It was so cold that every time I took a step my feet hurt.  Try soaking your feet in ice cold water for 15 minutes and then walk. That feeling and the way my feet felt were exactly the same:P Each step was painful so we made the best of it and ran down laughing to get it over with. Once we were in the pool area I put my goggles and swim cap on and went into the pool. The water was really warm and felt like a JacuzziJ Even though 400 meters is a small distance I was nervous because I had never swam that much without taking minute breaks in between. Once the guy told me to go I swam as best as I could. You know how swimmers do a little flip once they hit the wall? Well I never learned how to do that and unfortunately..haha.. I got kicked in the stomach three times because I was too close to them while they were doing it. Even though it did hurt, I kept going so I could make my team proud. Finally.. I finished the swim:)  I ran to the transition area to get my bike and put on my cycling shoes. There are so many rules in triathlons. You have to mount and dismount on your bike at a certain place or else you get penalized. Another rule is that when you’re on your bike you only have 15 seconds to pass the person in front of you, or else it would be counted as drafting annnnnnnd you could only pass on the left side of them. The bike course was only 12 miles but there were so many hills and that’s what made it hard. I was looking at my little computer on my bike and I was going 45 mph down the hill! I looked forward to going down that hill because my family was down there. Every time I passed by they screamed, “GO RONIC!” and “GO BEACH!” I love having people watch and cheer for me because it makes me want to try and go harder. After that was the run. I dropped my bike off and put on my running shoes and my racing bib. The run was the only thing that was easy for me. Once I crossed the finish line I heard my family and team cheer me on, I felt accomplished and proud of myself.

After the race they had some little competitions and prizes. There was handstands, pushups, relays, etc. They had announced that they were going to do a woman’s relay. I didn’t want to race because I thought they were going to smoke me. Since I was the only CSULB girl that was there all the guys on my team practically pushed me in so I could race :P It was funny because I had no choice so I just did it. I ended up getting 3^rd place out of like 5 girls. I won a water bottle and flowers so that was cool :)

We all went to In and Out afterwards and then headed home. Once I got home I ate again. I don’t think I have ever eaten that much food in one day haha. I took a nap and finished the essay we had assigned for this class. Overall, it was a long, beautiful, fun day. And I look forward to doing more triathlons in the future:)


Part of the team that raced at UCI



CSULB Tri Team

Marathons are fun but I thought, how cool would it be to do a triathlon?! Although, I was horrible at swimming and never did much cycling I immediately joined the Triathlon team after being accepted at Long Beach State. It would be a great workout, I would make new friends, and I would be able to achieve one of my goals and hopefully help me to one day complete an Iron Man, which is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. There are four types of triathlons: a Sprint, Olympic, Half-Iron Man, and Iron Man. I will be doing pure Sprints until I get more comfortable with swimming and cycling. In around 5 months my cycling has improved but, my swimming still needs some work. The only bad thing about Tri’s is that it is an expensive sport. I’ve spent nearly a thousand dollars and still not done getting all the things I want and need. But so far, it’s been worth every penny.

I’ve been training with the Tri team at Long Beach State since the beginning of last semester and it has been great. Our racing season is from January to March. Our First race that we will compete in is TOMORROW! :) , February 13, which is at UC Irvine. This will be my first triathlon and I’m super excited. I’ve been practicing swimming, cycling, and running a few miles a week from being injured.  So hopefully I do well. I’m not trying to be the fastest or slowest competitor out there; I’m just going to try my best, represent my school, and have a good timeJ



CSULB Tri



How it all began.

LA marathon 2009

Hello, my name is Veronica Gonzalez; this is my second semester at Long Beach State. When I was younger I use to hate running or anything that involved exercising but, after joining Track and Cross Country in high school I fell in love with it. I signed up for my very first marathon when I was 16 years old and of course, I  was completely terrified. Just knowing that in order to get a medal you have to complete the whole course  under 7 or 8 hours(depending on the race) got me thinking, “Can I even finish it in that time limit?” But I knew that my best friend, Xenia, and her dad would stick with me till the last sprint. Since it wasn’t Xenias dad’s first race he pushed us and didn’t allow any walking. 26.2 miles with no walking, you could imagine the joy on our faces. At the starting line, I felt really nervous but also excited. At mile 10, I was confident and thought it wasn’t that bad. At mile 16, I was a little tired but overall okay. At mile 20, I thought my legs were going to fall off! At mile 25, I was in so much pain I wanted to fall over and just lay on the ground. Then finally, I hit MILE 26! The crowd cheered so loud that gave me the energy to sprint that last .2 mile to the finish line. It took me 5 hours and 40 minutes to finish. Even though I walked funny and wasn’t able to go down stairs for a week. It was totally worth it after getting that medal. It’s cool to say that I have 6 marathon medals (one being a half marathon) and that my time has improved to 4 hours and 38 minutes. My family completely supports me. They all go to every race, cheer me on, and make me signs. Each race is around $120 -$140 and it all goes to whatever charity they choose. So you know not only did you do it for yourself, you also did it for others.

Right after finishing


So i'm posting this video because i thought it was pretty cool. It gives you a good idea on how the event looks like and how exciting it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg6hB02V8t8