Mile Stone

Another benchmark in my running career - I hit 50 miles in one week for the first time this past week, with 36 of them happening Saturday (24) and Sunday (12). Yee haw! And except for a slower than normal 12 on Sunday and some leg tiredness, I'm none the worse for the wear. Now, however, I'm in taper time, so won't be seeing those numbers again for a few weeks.

Thursday - Six Rivers Running Club 5k Turkey Trot. PR'd this last year, but I have a 10-mile run tomorrow. Coach Bill will be running it with me Thursday and he helps me push myself, so we'll see what happens.

Another Fine Lesson Learned

Of course I've known forever that I would have today off work. One would think that I would be smart enough to say, "Hey! I'll do my 20-miler on Wednesday instead of having to do it at Conference over the weekend!" Well, I didn't think about that until Karen suggested it last night. I had a pretty exhaustive XT day yesterday, but I thought, "What the heck. Let's give it a try anyway." Well . . . . I made it 12.5 miles today. My legs were beat. . . up. My quads hurt so stinking bad, there was no way I could do anymore climbing. If I could've run on a rolling trail, I know I could've finished, but the climbing - ugh! Now I'll have to gut it out down in Rancho Cordova, either on the road or on a treadmill. {sigh} My own stupidity never ceases to amaze me.

A Whole New Journey

November 1 is here, and thus begins my journey to my first 50-miler in April, the American River 50-miler, or AR50. Well, that's a whole 5 months away!, you say. But believe me, those 5 months are going to fly by, and before I know it, I'll be doin' some serious butt clenching and second guessing of myself while standing in the dark at a starting line in Sacramento with lots of other people. I have two 50ks planned between now and April 10, Desert High on 12/06 and Hagg Lake on 02/20, the latter of which will be my last long training run. It's funny to think that a 50k distance is going to be a training run.

I spend a lot of time envisioning myself crossing that finish line in April, with my buddy, Karen, by my side (my pacer for the last 20 miles) and my husband, Shorty, and (hopefully) his sister, Kim, waiting for me. To be able to share this experience with all of them would be wonderful.

I'll probably pop back in here every now and then to bore you with the details of my training, but if you're reading this blog, you probably don't mind.

Yep, the next few months are going to be quite a journey.