Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Inaugural post (and starting over again).

I woke up this morning with a strange idea -- that I should decide what I want and go get it. I usually don't see things with such clarity. It's not that I have no ambition, really, but we all crave comfort and certainty and I think I just became a little too, well, comfortable.
I want to be an ultrarunner. My unspoken dream, which is now spoken (or typed, as it were), is to finish the Western States 100 which is a 100 mile race from Squaw Valley to Auburn CA. It's a challenging event. Ultrarunning is an extreme, challenging sport. I'm an extreme kind of person.
One does not go from being an inconsistent, leisurely runner to an ultramarathoner overnight. And so I am going to begin running again in earnest, race half and full marathons, and maybe graduate to a 30 or 50 mile race. I expect this will take rather a long time and that is ok, as long as I am moving toward my goal.
I'm considering running a half marathon in VA beach over Labor Day weekend but that might be pushing it a bit. I'm definitely planning on Philadelphia in November (just the half, 13.1 miles). There are many races I'd like to run, and it's exciting to think about them, but what really counts is the work of training that happens between now and then.
I am a starter. I start blogs, I start hobbies, I start projects. I don't finish them all. This I will finish. I am prepared to become a bit selfish and do the things I need to do to meet my goal. This means I will focus more on nutrition and running schedules and less on partying and sleeping late.
I am *so* worth it.
And so I started again today, on a run/walk interval program. I'll do this 3 times per week and when I'm up to 3 miles I'll keep it there for awhile to build a base before I ramp up the mileage.
I can do it.