Joining Forces

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Train I Must!

Sooo... it's been a great week of training!

I mean, while many people are still sleeping off their last can of Ol' Bullfrog from the night before, I am out running.

And while many are watching Wheel of Fortune at night, I'm running home from work.  Tonight will be my 3rd day in a row of run-commuting after work.  

I know, a lot of folks don't understand and that's OK.  I thought about that last night as I was standing in about 10" of fresh snow on my run home.  It occurred to me that "Crazy" is different for each person.  What a lot of people think of as unreal, crazy, maybe even ridiculous... such as running through 10" of snow for five miles after working for 12 hours; for others like myself, is the only option.  What seems crazy to me is sitting inside, in front of a TV, eating bon-bons (sp), just because its cold outside.  Yes... maybe in the moment on one level... it sucks, hurts (a lot) and maybe I even want to quit, but on a whole different level... I am energized, invigorated and empowered beyond your wildest imagination just knowing I'm doing it!

I keep going back to the same statement in my head: "A 100 mile ultramarathon won't care what excuses you had for not training enough when you're ready to quit at mile 75!"  Quitting is not an option!

That's it...

Train I Must...

No excuses!

It's Real Now!

Tony Robbins says something like: "When you talk about something, it's a dream; when you envision it, it becomes a goal; when you schedule it, its real!"

With that in mind... I signed up for the Winona Lake Trail Ultra 50 Mile.

That's right!  I had been talking about running the Rocky Raccoon 100 in Texas the beginning of February and finally came to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to happen as I have struggled a little with getting in the amount of training I needed with the winter here in Michigan.

Don't get me wrong... I have been training and I mean a lot... just not enough to meet an early February deadline.  On top of that, I had not signed up yet for the Rocky Raccoon 100 (kind of an omen).  I have to admit that the first time I actually heard the words; "I'm not going to run Rocky Raccoon" come out of my mouth, I almost panicked.  And yet, I always believe that if one plan doesn't work out try something different.

That lead me to yesterday.  While searching for a substitute for Rocky Raccoon, I stumbled across an event that met several of my criteria.  I wanted something that I didn't have to do a lot of traveling for (This is just across the Michigan-Indiana border).  Additionally, because of a 2:30pm start time I can literally drive down the same day.  I wanted an event that was sooner than later and yet not in February.  This is a 10-mile trail loop (much easier for a first-timer to self-support).  And... I didn't want to be freezing (Feb, March, April can still be kind of cold around the Great Lakes). 

And so... here I am!  Signed up and ready to run.  No more playing around.  It's freaky cold here and I've got a race to get ready for!

It's Real Now!

Rocky Raccoon is not out forever, just for now!