All things Tri…or….Gee that’s funny!

Greetings all, just wanted to do a quick blog about today’s long run. (1/17/2009)

Went out with the Saturday group from Life Center and the usual trouble makers were there:
Steve: Numero Uno BIG Troublemaker who last week got us lost and turned a 6 mile run into a 10 miler!  I know, I know… let it go.
Christie: Well, I can’t really say she’s a trouble maker, so I won’t.  But she was there with her two dogs as usual.  Last week while Steve & I were stumbling around trying to find our way back to the cars, Christie came to our rescue and pointed the way back.  Then she took off on her own and forgot to mention it was her birthday!  Awh, a birthday run all alone.   (I know EXACTLY how you feel, Christie!  But that’s another story).  So “Happy Belated Birthday…tooooooo YOU!!!!!!!”
Tina:  Well she IS a trouble maker but she’s not been around lately to cause any trouble so we’ll let her off the hook.
John: Now he’s not a trouble maker either (Married to Christie and the group leader) but we haven’t seen John in a LONG LONG time as he’s been dealing with major foot/heel issues and was there just to put in some walking miles.

But that’s it!  Nobody else showed up!!!  Oh well, it was still a great run.

The weather was cold although it was only 30, but due to the inversion we have high humidity and it feels like I’m back in Massachusetts where the cold seemed to bit right down to the bones.  Once we got going we warmed up pretty quick.

My goal was to do a 12 miler so we chose a 7.2 mile loop and did that.  Once we completed it I stopped long enough to “chew” a gel pack down (It was SOOOO cold I honestly had to bite a piece of the gel off in order to eat it.  Quite a switch from this summer when it runs out all over your  hands and handle bars!) and take a swig of water.  Said good bye to everyone and headed back out for an additional 5 miler.  When I got back I had done over 12 miles and had an average pace of 8:30 per mile.  Woh..what?  8:30 for 12 miles?  COOL!  Maybe I’m on track after all!  I know, I know, it was only 12 miles, but it’s a start.

You see, one of my goals this year is to qualify for Boston.  (I erroneously thought that I was going to qualify in 2008 for a 2009 Boston, but I didn’t read the small print on the Boston Marathon web page.  So my plan of running a sub 3:40 marathon in 2008 and doing Boston in 2009 where I’ll be 55 so I gain that extra 10 minutes fell through since you actually have to BE 55 on the day of the race, not the year of the race..sigh.)

 So THIS year, 2009, I need to do a qualifying marathon under 3:40:00 which is a pace of 8:32 per mile, so anytime I do long distance and I’m under that magical number it gives me hope.

BUT..I also have another more recent goal and that is to do an ultra marathon!  Now you might be saying, “Dude…how ya going to do an ultra when you HAVEN’T EVEN DONE A MARATHON?!!!”  Well, you see, it’s this way:  The ultra I plan on doing is called “Centennial Trail Run” and it’s not really a race in the sense that you get numbers and there are all these aid stations and a finish line with photographers and such.  It’s more of  let’s get together with a group of other wackos and run 37 miles and let’s just have some fun with it.  So on March 7th we’ll be starting at the state-line on the Centennial Trail and running west-bound on the trail and end up in 9 Mile at the end of the trail.  Along the way there maybe an aid station here and there as volunteers from the BRRC group decided to help out.  But basically it’s a self supported run and when you finish you go home, email your time and they post it on their web site.

The fun part will just be to see if  you can get your head to tell your body, “No, we’re not quitting right now, we’re just going to take a small rest and then continue on.  Yes, if you need to walk, that’s okay, but YOU’RE NOT GOING TO STOP!”  Doesn’t that sound fun?  So if you’re not doing anything on March 7th, COME ON DOWN!  And, it’s only $15.00!

Well, that’s about all for now, except to say….”I’M GOING TO KONA!!!!!”  (Yes, I KNOW I’ve already blogged about it, but it needs to be said, over and over again until I can’t take it any more and until EVERYONE around me KNOWS!!!!

Well, have a great weekend and don’t you miss the snow?  I do.

TriMoot…out!