Journey to 50K

Well, this is my first blog of many in which I hope to be a great life experience for me. Choosing to run a 50K wasn't taken lightly. What it was - was a need to place a goal in front of me to keep me motivated and catapult me to a fitter self. If you are a friend of mine, you know how much I love to eat... I'm not obese, but easily could be if I didn't work out through out the week. 2 years ago when I was 39, I gave myself a goal to do a triathlon before I turned 40. So I lost 26 pounds and ran my first triathlon. I chose an all women's event, SheRox and it was a great experience and got me thinking... so I started to run. My friend and boss Paul sent me, "Born to Run," and then after loving that I picked up Dean Karnazes book, "The Ultramarathon Man. " Both were really inspiring. The idea of running turned to more of a passion. A zen space in time for me to turn it all off. The fact that both books focused in on the internal reasons of why to run - really was the turning point for me. To create a journey around it...and not just run. It's funny, because I have hips and boobs and was always told I couldn't run... I wanted it even more. So, I grabbed my shoes and headed out the door. I've done a bunch of 5K's but couldn't fathom running beyond the 3.1 miles... so, I Google mapped around my neighborhood and ran 2 miles out and back. Finally, I went past a 5K and then weekly added 1-2 miles extra depending upon how I felt. I started training last November and about 8 weeks later I finally ran 16 miles... what a great accomplishment for me. The thoughts then turned to not doing a marathon, but an ultramarathon. I mean who would want to run on pavement for a whopping 26.1 miles? I rather run for 31.1 miles on a beautiful trail. So, I signed up for my first 50K on May 30, 2010.

I know it is going to be a lot of hard work... the trail is close to my home here in Portland, so I'll get to train on it 2x a week... which is a plus. It's wooded and has hills. I'm loving the challenge and found a training plan online that gives me the mileage plan for 12 weeks leading up to the race. Diet and cross training will be crucial too and with lots of stretching I will hopefully run healthy. I'm excited for the challenge and to share it with whomever will listen. This is totally for me...