A Natural Drink to Balance Electrolytes

Image borrowed from http://tipdeck.com/home-made-lemonade-recipe

I first learned about electrolytes after a race in the late 90s.  It was a sweltering hot day--the first really hot day of that summer.  After completing the race I was talking to a reporter, who was intrigued by the fact that our sisters were running in full habits with the children from St. Charles.  

After that conversation, I remember turning around and heading to the refreshment stand.  Next thing I knew, everything around me started to swim and my face was in the grass (I am so glad there was grass there!)  Other runners were very kind.  They told me to sit there and put my head between my knees until the dizziness went away.  Some one got me a banana.  I wanted to disappear into the grass.

Since then I have learned that if I sweat a lot and then rehydrate really quickly right away, I am susceptible to this kind of dizziness.  I am not alone:  that is why sports drinks have been invented, with their special ingredients to help replace the electrolytes in our body that we lose when we sweat a lot.  I don't like all the sugar in those drinks, however, and I wanted to share a natural recipe given to me by my naturopath  that works really well for me. Here it is:

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar powder

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup grapefruit juice (I use unsweetened)

3 1/2 cups water

It's quick and easy to make and less expensive than those sports drinks.  Works for me!  For more information about electrolytes and how to avoid electrolyte imbalance, here is a good article.  

A Farewell Running Song

During the past few months I have written a couple of posts about I girl I have called "Anna."  She came to live at St. Charles a little before Christmas, and was incredibly anxious and fearful about everything.  Anna flourished in our program and especially loved her daily runs with Sister Maximilian.  

A few days ago, Anna moved in with her new adoptive family.  In one of her last runs with Sister Maximilian, Anna decided to compose a goodbye song while running.  It went something like this:

Sister Maximilian!

I am gonna miss you!

I am gonna miss running with you too!

Sister Max-i-mil-ill-ian!

I love you, Sister Maximilian!

I am gonna miss you!

I like running with you too!

Sister Max-i-mil-ill-ian!

There were many more verses to Anna's song, which continued for twenty minutes at the top of her voice during their 4 mile run together.  Unfortunately, we do not have it in audio form.  Since I am the blogger, I will also report that Sister Maximilan then composed a similar song for Anna as well!

An Extra Run to Relieve the Stress

One of the boys from St. Charles is really beginning to understand and internalize the way running can help him handle stress.  This little guy, whom I will call Jimmy, has lived in more than 12 foster homes in his short life, and is getting ready to move into yet another one.  Needless to say, he is agitated.  Since he has not yet experienced a permanent home that was right for him, he has a lot of anxiety about moving to this next home.  The way he sees it, why should he expect this home to be any different from the others?

Last week, Jimmy asked Sister Maximilian if he could go with her on her second run.  Ordinarily Sister Maximilian runs 8 miles a day.  The first 4 miles are with the more experienced group of kids who run a little faster.  The second 4 miles are with beginners.  Ordinarily, she would not allow a child to run 8 miles in one day. However, given Jimmy's level of stress and the fact that he was asking for the extra time running, she approved.  Jimmy had a great run and one of the nicest evenings he has had in a while. Sister was excited because this showed that he really is starting to understand how running can affect the way he feels.  We don't know if he will ask for an extra run again, but  if he does, Sister will allow him to put in an extra 4 miles every once in a while.  Hopefully, this will be a lesson he takes with him into adulthood to help him cope with the stresses of life.

Sister Maximilian & the St. Charles Kids Step into Barefoot Running

It was an historical day last week when Sr. Maximilian and the kids from St. Charles officially started to experiment with barefoot running.  Not to worry:  they are proceeding slowly and carefully and they won't ever be seen running through the streets of Rochester without shoes, lest they get cut by broken glass somewhere along their route.  Except Sister Maximilian, that is.  She might find she likes this barefoot experience so much that she invests in Vibram Fivefingers the way I did.  Time will tell.  When I return to New Hampshire in a few weeks I fully intend to tantalize her with mine.

Here is how it all got started:  Sister has been as intrigued as I am about the barefoot running phenomenon in the running world.  Last week, she decided to try an experiment with the kids.  Our kids run 50 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week.  On this historic day she decided to shorten the run by 5 minutes, and then at the end give the kids an opportunity to run barefoot in the yard.  Kids who didn't want to try barefoot running were welcome to run their final 5 minutes around our driveway:  a track we often use in the winter when the sidewalks are not plowed.

No one chose that option, however.  Everyone wanted to take their shoes off and run in the grass.  The kids absolutely loved it, and Sister Maximilian admitted she enjoyed it too.  Our yard is a large rectangle.  One circle around the yard is roughly 1 tenth of a mile.  We have great turf in that yard because of the irrigation system that keeps it well watered.  As an aside, another group of athletes paid to renovate our yard about 10 years ago: a group of students from St. Anselm's College who walk 100 miles each year in a program called "Road for Hope" to raise money for various charities.

The kids are now running barefoot for 5 minutes twice a week.  Sister Maximilian will assess whether and when they are ready to increase the barefoot time.  In the meantime, those 10 minutes a week sound like a lot of fun.

How Do Those Sisters Run in Those Habits?

At the very beginning of this blog I thought I would answer a burning question that is on many people's minds when they see our sisters running.  How on earth do we run in these habits?  First of all, we are used to it.  Since we train in the habit every day, our attire does not have any impact on our performance at a race.

During the summer after running races when the temperature was in the 80s or 90s, I would often get the question, “How can you possibly run in that long dress?  Aren’t you hot?”  I always found the question a little amusing because I was as cool as a cucumber and the runner asking me was usually pretty hot!  You see, our bodies are very intelligent.  When it is hot and when we work out, we sweat.  The purpose of the sweat is to cool our bodies down.  When the sisters run in a road race wearing their long, blue & white habits on a hot day, the habits become damp.  After the race, we are as cool as if we were in a swimming pool.  


In the winter we layer just like everyone else.  Probably the most difficult part of running in a habit (especially a white one) is that if it there is mud or slush on the road our hemlines get very dirty.  For that reason we tend to have a designated "running habit."  


One last thing about the habit:  we designed them for running.  Although the skirts are long, they have 4 big pleats.  Our stride is never hampered by our skirts.  So, running in the habit is easy once you get used to it.  Some of our sisters ride bikes in their habit.  Unfortunately, that is a skill I never mastered.  The skirt always gets caught in the bike chain.  Maybe I should practice more.