New Year!

Happy New Year!

I gotta say, 2012 was not very good to me.  Even down to the final few hours, last year was nothing but trouble!  But I'm always excited to greet the new year.

Checking with the local runner's club, I saw there will be a trail half-marathon in Silver City.  I haven't done much trail running, and the race is scheduled only about four months after Baby is due, but I think I'm going to send in my registration and go for it!  Assuming I can at least keep up with something of an exercise routine through the rest of this pregnancy, I think I can be ready for it.  I should also be able to run the Ed Hansen again; I would have about three months to train for that one.  I probably won't be able to run the other two races I've done the last couple of years: the Breakers to Bay 5 mile is right around my due date, and I'll be lucky if I'm able to walk, much less run, by 4th of July.  But just maybe I'll be able to do the Norway Spring Classic, even if I do the 5k instead of 10k.  I really hope I can, just for the shock value of running a race preceded by my 7-month belly.


New year, new life, new goals.  I pray we all make the best of it!

10 K Training

I have jumped into the last five weeks of a basic training plan to get ready for the Ed Hansen.  It feels good to have some direction again.  I'll be running three or four days a week with two or three days for cross training and one recovery day off.

This is the first race I've trained for with a concrete time goal in mind.  Last year I ran this race in 1:02:59; this year my goal is to finish in under an hour.  That's not a huge improvement, but I think it is a reasonable goal for me.

I'm also trying to get a handle on my diet with the goal of losing weight again.  I reached my goal weight late last summer, dipped about five pounds under that goal, and then gained steadily through the winter.  It has been frustrating but also a learning experience.  It takes me hours every week to burn hundreds of calories.  It takes just a few minutes at any time to eat hundreds of calories.  That's why exercise alone will never get me where I want to be- I have to watch my diet also.  Besides, if I want to perform like an athlete, I have to eat like one.

Yeah.  That's all I've got today.  Now I have to go see who is screaming and why.

So, that's the latest on me!

I finally got through all the training and started my new job last night.  My first shift was graveyard, 9pm to 7am.  So far it seems I will do well adapting to a varying day/night schedule.  I hope that is always the case!

I ran yesterday.  It was almost four miles and was really not easy.  It has been several weeks since I've kept up with a regular running schedule, so I guess I'm going to be in no condition to do serious training.  That's okay, running just for the fun and exercise is still productive.  I may be running the Ontonagon Outback next weekend.  I'll almost definitely be running the Ed Hansen.  And then that will probably be all there is to my racing season this year.

I never wrote up a race report for the Greenland Independence Run, Walk, and Roll.  Robert, Raechel, and I ran the 5k distance; Joseph ran the 1 mile; Mary and Lucy kinda-sorta ran the 50-yard dash, although that ended in tears for both of them after only about 10 yards.  (I still feel bad for that poor boy Mary knocked heads with...)  My time was just a little slower than last year, but I was still the First (and only) in my age division.  Go Me!

So, since I'm not focusing on racing this summer, I should be able to get back on track with losing some of the poundage I picked up through the winter.  It's discouraging how slow it comes off and how quickly it comes back on.