Today is February 17, 2013. It’s a Sunday. The sky is partly cloudy. No rain. Yeah for that.
Yesterday I posted my intent on running a relay segment for MS Run the US, a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis research and eduction. I am very excited to participate in this relay. Honored too. Some people have passed comments along to me that tell me I am insane. Such comments remind me that I am on target. This is how I want to live me life, by doing insane things.
I have Three Stages of training to get me to Vernal, Utah, where my segment starts and finishes in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, some 164 miles away. I will have seven days to complete this journey. If I don’t, the support staff will shoot me. Well, I might beg them to shoot me, but they probably won’t.
Since the first of the year I have been building my running base. This was Stage One of my strategy. Spending as much time running in the rain to prepare me for running in a very arid part of the country. I know. That doesn’t make sense. We get what we get. During the winter months here in the San Juan Islands, we get rain. Or we got rain. Stage One was designed to get me use to spending more time out running. Rain or no rain. Stage Two, which started the first of February increases my mileage or time I spend running. This Stage two has me running twice a day and running long runs during weekends. I have run one 20 mile run already in February. Good for me.
As of today I have 95 days until I leave Vernal for Steamboat. I think people in Colorado refer to Steamboat Springs by just Steamboat. I will too.
Anyway. I have 95 days. My goal is to run 1,000 miles from today until May 23 (which is also my little sister’s birthday). This plan averages 10.5 miles per day for the next 95 days. That’s doable. I will be running many days where my mileage will be over 20 miles. I will need to get use to that much distance as my relay segment is about 24 miles per day. I have trained like this before when I ran my first 50 miler. It worked then. I am hoping it will work for me again.
If I count all the mileage I have all ready ran this year (240) and add it to the 1,000 goal miles, I will have 1240 miles by the time I start for Steamboat. On paper this all looks good. The challenge comes down to GMBOTD (getting my butt out the door). I except that challenge. I do find that the dark and wet days of our winters to be a challenge for me. Most of the routes I run don’t have street lamps. Just darkness. I have a headlamp for this darkness. I also have a nice Brooks Running rain jacket that is reflective. Reflective material is good for our dark mornings and nights.
I know I will have my challenges. Mostly mental challenges that will keep me indoors. Physically I was born to run. I also run so slow that I couldn’t possibly hurt myself. My challenges are mostly comfort related. Soft, comfy chair and a good book will result in no running. (Must remember not to go to the library).
I can, as they say in Wyoming to “pull up your cowboy boots and get it done.” Actually, I don’t wear cowboy boots. That saying still works for me. I am from Wyoming, you know. Giddyup is another Wyoming term, but it doesn’t apply here. Yippee ki yah has already been taken. Hopefully when I reach Steamboat someone will shout that most famous of all cowboy sayings “Whooooa”. Which means to stop.
I do need your help by donating to the cause. You can do that by clicking I Would Like to Donate. Any amount is appreciated.
Stage Three hasn’t been developed as of yet. Stay tuned, this journey is going to be wild.
Clark
