Fingers Crossed

Usually if I am the first one awake in the house I would be eager to sneak off for an early morning run but the first day of the New Year holds a different kind of anticipation for me.  Because this morning I woke up before everyone else to hold myself accountable to start this all over again.

 

 

Potential runners have until January 8th to enter their name for the lottery so there was no need to get up this morning after a very late night.  I could still be snuggle warm in my bed but I needed to do this.  I needed to put my hand up first and say, Pick Me! Pick Me!

 

The journey begins again.  Fingers Crossed.

 



The Glass Half Full

...or Empty?

 

Which way do you see it? 

I look at last week's miles and I am kicking myself for not getting my Sunday evening run in. 
Don't worry.  The streak is at day 898.  I ran Sunday morning. 

 How do I know I didn't do it? 

 Well if I had I would have hit my 80+ miles for the week.

 

Does it matter when it comes to how I'll do/feel in my upcoming races? 

Mostly likely not. But like maybe many of you, I can let the numbers begin to mean more than they actually do.

It won't matter in the middle of my next race if I ran 77 or 82 miles this week but what will matter is whether or not I have conditioned my body enough to be able to handle the challenge.  That conditioning is created in part by "time on my feet" or simply running.  Often running a lot.  But it is also created by strengthening my body and my mind to want to complete the challenge of whatever race I am running. 

With that in mind I have been increasing my weekly mileage to condition my mind and body to be so familiar with a 10 mile run that running 30 or 50 will physically be less demanding.  Those increased weeks have also helped me mentally be able to continue running when, say I have had to run some of those long runs on a less than exciting treadmill. 

But what you might not know is that I have also been doing a bit of cross training.  I know it's a shocker!  I rarely talk about it and I don't log it on Daily Mile.  Mostly because I need to be accountable to myself before I start adding the stress, pressure, responsibility of being accountable to a wider audience.  But it all started with telling myself that every time I run I will cross train immediately after for the same number of minutes as the number of miles I ran.  Make sense?  Say last week when I got in a great 12 mile run on the TM then I hoped off, lifted and did core work for at least 12 minutes.  This morning I got in a quick 4 miles and then came back and did at least 4 minutes of cross training.  When I first started "making" myself do this there were a lot of days when I only did the exact number of minutes I had to but I did them.  Today I was happy to have a little extra workout to look forward to when I had to keep the miles low.  I can't really see a difference in my shape yet but during the Mega I could feel the difference a more powerful upper body created in being able to power up those extreme inclines. 

My glass, whether it's half empty or half full is definitely filled with a sweeter drink with my love of higher miles.  When my schedule or body tell me that I need to step back and lower that mileage, I won't see the glass as emptying only being filled with a different kind of sweetness. 

I raise my glass to 5 more sleeps and some seriously fit looking Fire on the Mountain Trail 50k race photos!

Need a little help seeing your glass as half full?  Don't forget to sign up for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge.  Make sure to let Amanda at RuntotheFinish know that Shelly sent you!

This Week in My Life

This Week in My Life

Catching you up Edition

I spent lots of time with little LBM playing at the pond

I spent meticulously recorded countless hours running.

I cheered for S'ghetti girl and her teammate at her soccer games

I've enjoyed letting S'ghetti girl dazzle me with her crafting skills

I've annoyed my younger sister by visiting way too frequently

but how can you get enough of this new little face?

I've been getting rid of stuff through a online yard sale

I've been looking forward to Capon Valley 50k

No goals.  I'm going to finish and have fun.

But if you want to wager how I'll do feel free.

Have an amazing weekend.



It is all falling into place

Another piece of the 100 mile puzzle fell into place yesterday when the DOW closed up at 12890.46.

My random number was 384.

That meant that I got in

The Bull Run Run 50 miler!

No wait list for me this year.

This puts me another step closer to being ready for the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100.

I am currently at 66 on that wait list. 

I'm not worrying about that now. 

Really, I'm not.

Am I trying to convince you or me?

I have 4 training races between today and the A race in May

First up is the Hashawha Hills Trail Run on February 25

Then the Seneca Greenway Trail 50k on March 3

The HAT Run on March 24

and then the Bull Run Run 50 miler on April 14

With MMT 100 nicely timed on May 12 - 13 which will coincide with my 2 year streaking anniversary.

Running any of these races too? 

What does your spring schedule look like?

Want to crew a 100 miler in May? 

Don't miss this post HERE. We can run together this fall.

A long engagement

Even though I haven't yet done a year end or a 2012 goal post, you wouldn't have to be reading very often

but of course you read every day, right?

to know that my A goal for 2012 is to go for the 100.

yeah, as in miles run at one time. 

on trails, in the mountains, through the day and through the night, without dying or falling off a cliff.

To achieve that I registered for the Massenutten Mountain Trails 100 Mile Run.

Like many true trail races, the MMT 100 has a limited field of runners.  To allow runners a some what equal opportunity to run a very popular race MMT 100 uses a great lottery system as part of their registration.  The next step of the system was on January 4th, the last day for "lottery winners" to submit payment and stay on the entrants list.  On that day I went from a potential 158th to 75th. 

That's right there are 74 people ahead of me on the wait list.

The race only allows 205 runners to be on the entrants list.

As mose of my readers are beyond the fourth grade and can do simple math, I'm sure you can see that I might have a long engagement with the wait list.

Fellow ultra friends who have run MTT 100 many times assure me that with the next two steps on April 16 the (last day to withdrawal with full refund) and May 1st (last day to withdrawal with partial refund) many entrants will drop out for a list of reasons. 

The race scheduled for May 12 - 13.

As exciting as the possiblity of doing a 100 mile ultra is, it would kinda be nice to know before the day of the race that I am going to get in.

What is the shortest notice you have ever had that you made it into a race?

What do you think of race lottery systems?  Level the play field or should it be first come first served?

for a complete explanation of MTT 100's lottery system click here