Realignment

Since I didn't run the Portland Marathon, for which I trained a year, I've had to realign my running priorities. When starting anything new, it's important to have both short and long term goals. Each must also have benchmarks so that the eyes always remain on the prize. I believe that can run 100 plus miles, but my body hasn't realized that goal. So, I'm constantly training until it does. I've begun to train 5 days per week running 4-5 miles per day. On the 5th day I run 2 miles over my usual. Right now that's 7 miles. Increases will come monthly and running hills is a must. As for eating, I refuse to diet. Either the changes will be permanent or there won't be any. Therefore, I'm going to slowly become a vegetarian.

here are a few races that I'm going to do in 2011:

This marathon, held in August, also includes a 51K (31.7 miles) ultra. I'm tempted to train for the ultra, but the course is 26.2 miles of elevation, then the rest is down hill at an elevation of ~5000 feet. The field is limited to 600 people so I'll have to register soon for this one. 3 hrs outside Vegas on ET Highway.

For elevation training, I'd have to swim 'lung busters.' That's when you can swim 25-50 yards underwater on a single breath. The training makes your lungs stronger because of the weight of water on top of you. The heart rate will tend to slow dramatically too. That means that your body is using oxygen very efficiently.

The Vancouver Marathon is now my goal for running my first marathon. It's in June 2011 and only has 5000 people, as opposed to 15000 for Portland. I still want and will run Portland because I want my gold medal from the Rose city. However, I don't want to wait another year before I run a marathon.






Eventually, the dream is to run the Western States 100 miler and get the silver or bronze belt buckle. Many have asked me why? Well, because I can! I find it fun and challenging, and I've found something that fits my personality. Besides, I'm not going to keep sitting in front of my big screen TV and eat air chips. There is life to be lived and I'm out to do it.