10 Miles!!! What goes up, must come down. (And vice versa?)

My legs are like proverbial jello.

In anticipation of the hills in San Francisco, I've been selecting a variety of long runs that contain mountains. Yesterday, I chose to break my double digit barrier with an uphill climb over and around Mt. Falcon. For the first 4.4 mi it was all uphill. All of it. I passed plenty of moms celebrating Mother's day with their families, several couples trudging up the mountain with the help of walking sticks, some unruly dogs, and I was passed by what I can only imagine was an elite runner (probably training for the Olympics...)  I didn't run up that mountain with any kind of speed, mind you. But that's not the point. Right?


For anyone wishing to torture themselves by running up a mountain, I would highly recommend this one. It started with a gorgeous view of Red Rocks amphitheater, then toured the ruins of some man's dream house, flattened up a bit at the top and plummeted down into some wooded paths before climbing (again!), and then passing through a mountain top meadow. Beautiful scenery! If only I could have paid more attention to my surroundings rather than looking down to make sure I didn't trip over a rock! Fortunately, I was moving slowly enough to spy many a deer grazing. I even had to holler at one to get out of my path. It moved, reluctantly, and only a few feet out of my path. What goes uphill, though, must go 4.4 miles down hill. Turns out downhill isn't so nice on your knees-- but much faster.

To date, I have run a cumulative 89 miles since my 'official' training started. (I use quotations because I was running 4 x a week for a full two months before my official training started.  I wasn't counting miles, though, but rather minutes). Last week I did my long run (8 mi) around City Park--a nice, flat, urban street run in good time (10 min/mi). So, I'm not too concerned that I was essentially running a 13:30 min/mi uphill and at 5800' elevation yesterday. I'm hoping that my street running will harmoniously mesh with my trail running to produce the perfect San Fransisco marathon training program. Hills meet asphalt in my leg muscles--which, coincidentally, really hurt today. 

After getting lost on the way to and from my run in Morrison (darn Google maps, always trying to put me on the interstate!), I realized that I was pretty lucky living so close to the trails in Boulder. My long runs are going to take up an increasing part of my Sundays from here on out since it takes 30-40 minutes to get to the trails from my house in Denver.

I also want to take a moment to THANK everyone who has donated to my fund-raising cause!!!! I have already raised 36%, not including a substantial off-line donation. Look out for invites to my fund-raising events!

Running over the hills!

Oh the hills!

Nate and I conquered a 7 mile loop around the Denver foothills on Sunday. We circled Red Rocks amphitheater and chugged up and down the Dakota Ridge trail. I keep thinking that I was an idiot to sign up for a marathon that includes two up and overs on the Golden Gate Bridge and a sprint up Telegraph hill. But after yesterday's run, I'm pretty darn sure I've got this thing covered.

This was my second attempt at Dakota ridge. I tried it about a month ago, for only half the distance, and had to walk a few times. No walking yesterday--even after the 3.5 miles before the ridge!

$1000 and 26.2 mi

I didn't mention this last week (mostly because the post was getting too long...) BUT! I am using this personal challenge to also raise some money for a great San Francisco organization:  Shanti

 I am hoping to raise $1000 for this AIDS and Breast Cancer support organization that has been serving the San Francisco community for more than 25 years! Visit my fundraising page and read a little more about Shanti and why I'm running for them!

https://secure2.merchantcart.net/runsfm//mywebpage.cfm?cfid=631769&cftoken=53096475

I am in the middle of my third week of 'official' training. My goal for this week is 17 mi. Since I have to incorporate some hills in my workouts, I'm heading to Boulder to run up and around Sanita's--my favorite short hike at the base of the foothills. After talking with my little bro last night, I realized that he is kicking my butt in training. I'm certainly feeling some aches and pains these days!

I'M RUNNING A MARATHON!

Denver, CO -
That's right, folks--twentysixandtwotenths miles (that's 26.2 mi, but I thought it looked longer written out).
I know what you are thinking: Why in the heck would you want to do that?* Regardless, it's a pretty big deal for me, and I'm stoked to be taking on the challenge.

About four months ago I suddenly realized I had a lot of time on my hands (and feet), so I thought I would take the opportunity to do some things I never had time to do but always sort of wanted to do. One of those things was getting back in shape (my grad school habit of replacing real energy with caffiene started taking a toll). What better way to get in shape than to run....a lot? I must give credit where credit is due, though. Several of my grad school colleagues ran their first marathons the previous year, so I was inspired by their success.

I made a plan. I picked up the non-runners marathon training guide and got to thinking about which marathon I had time to train for (given that I haven't run more than two miles prior to training). Since Nate and I have been trying to get to California to visit his sister, and since the San Francisco marathon was more than 6 months away, it seemed like a brilliant plan! I called the little bro and convinced him to run the marathon and train together in spirit, given our geographic distance. (He was surprisingly easy to convince).

So, my little bro and I have been working on our 'pretraining' runs for the past 2 months. I think he is surpassing me in intensity though--and I suspect we won't be chugging along at 10 min miles together for 26.2 either. It seems he's found his calling....

But! I have a nice new running skirt so I look feminine whilst trotting along in my new supportive running shoes and lime green fuel belt. So well prepared.

Last week, we began our OFFICIAL training schedule, woohoo! I'm still on track, and bookin' up and down the foothills.

*Unless you are of the sporty persuasion, in which case you may be saying- "I've done a few of those, welcome to the club."