Yesterday, they arrived. I met the UPS driver halfway down the driveway. "Something actually for me." I said. "Yeah, looks like something fun, Dick's. No, Sports Authority." I took the package and hurried back to the home office, grabbed my golf club letter opener and stabbed at the box. Inside were the shoes.... its gotta be the shoes! My new Nike Zoom Trail S+'s. These highly technical, well made shoes from Vietnam... They will be my sharpened "Hell Feet" for my next race. THE Race! Dances with Dirt - Gnawbone 50 Miles.
Hell Feet
Hell Feet
This is one of the great checkpoints in my own warped, weekend warrior mind. The game shoes arrive... getting close to the Big Day. May 9th, only 7 weeks away. It has been a quick winter! Up until the last few weeks, most of my winter has been spent on the treadmills of the local Y. I take the kids, drop them off at child watch... 2 hours free babysitting and hop on a machine. It has been good to avoid the elements. I am not training for the Iditarod, so no need to freeze.... though once getting outside it has taken some braking in to getting used to the roads and trail again. Little aches and pains... cropping up here and there, but also doing 40 to 50 miles a week, I am bound to get a couple twinges.... Pain is just weakness leaving the body... I remind myself of the Native American saying.
As of right now I have about 6 - 20 plus miles runs in the bank. I plan on having completed a 25 and a 30 before April 18th. At that point my confidence will be pretty high about getting through 50 miles. Its just the terrain that I will be worrying about. The race is held in Brown County State park. I was down there a few weeks ago for the first time... and wish I had gone sooner! It was actually rated one of the best places on the continent to Mountain Bike...and what's trail running, but Mountainbiking without the bike. I am going back on Saturday for a 3 hours jaunt. 
While most people picture Indiana to be pancake flat cornfields... this part of the state could not be further from that description. It may not be where the glaciers were.... but it is where the melted glacier water went. Up and down carving up some major holes. 1000 foot peaks, 600 foot valleys... leaving us many 400 foot climbs and descents to run through. The important thing will be to take it out slower than I think I need to go... to remember that I will be moving for close to 12 hours, so just keep the heart rate as low as possible and to not overwork the quads in the early going.... I will need them later.
Knowing that this race will take more than just my legs, I have mixed in a little cross training... light weights, gym class exercises... all the stupid things you did in gym class or warm-ups before a game.... remember how silly you thought jumping jacks were? Try doing 50, right now! Sucks... doesn't it? I have also started to follow along with a crazy website.... basically giving you about a 15 minute workout doing various odd things.... but its getting me to work on all my weak spots... http://www.crossfit.com/
The last 2 weeks I have mixed in a couple short races. On the 21st I ran the DINO (Doing Indiana Off roads) 15K - 9.3 miles, but did a 12 mile "warm-up" before the race. This was a good training run, but mentally was tough, because I was getting passed left and right. I did "belly up" and started catching people on the last lap, but I decided to not to run so much before my next trail race. In order to be a little more "rested" for the next one, I pushed my long run of 20 miles to Wednesday night.. (of course it rained) Saturday, we had the local Holliday Park 5 mile race... its a great race cause it actually runs along the river, right where our house is. They also have some kids races so both Maggie and Jake were able to get in on it.
I kept my warm up to about 4 miles, nice and easy. It paid off.... I came in about the top 20th %.... (105 out of 530) Not bad for a plow horse! Jake ran a strong mile in the 6-12 year old division... yes he's only 5 and Maggie won her 2 year old race dressed in a bear costume! The picture will be posted once we get it, to be sure.
So all in all, training has gone well... I have paid my race fee... so no backing out now... the only stink right now is I need to fly back from Kansas City the night before the race... nothing like being well rested the day before the race! Oh well, I do still have to work!
Go, dis way, Daddy!
Jake and me, with comparison photo from same time last year! Jake and his hair have grown!
