A sliver of doubt

I am T-minus 9 days from is supposed to be my foray into the world of Ultramarathons and yet, I'm still trying to feel 'normal' after another ear infection hit this past week. I have a decision to make early next week and I'm slightly afraid of doing the unthinkable...pulling out of a race.

I really want to do this run. One of the things I promised myself for 2011 was that I would find events that would take me back to the reasons I love running and honestly, just staying fit. The SanTan Scramble (50K) is pure trail running with some fairly technical ascents and descents - mainly because you're running up a big hill! I've been out a few times to check it out and have really enjoyed myself out in the desert. Something about running in the open air of the desert early in the morning gets me charged up.

3D view of the 50K course along with elevation profile (yikes!)

Herein lies my problem. I'm feeling about 75% today and have logged maybe 10 miles since the PF Chang Marathon on January 16. Compound that with the treachery and hazards that come with trail running. Never-mind that I am committed to do the Ragnar Relay only 2 weeks after the 50K. Talk about zero down time...

Everyone thinks I'm nuts right now. So do I. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do about it yet.

I'll keep you posted.

2011 Plans

A quick update since closing down the Ironman journey. First and most important, I got inked. I knew I would after Ironman Arizona, I just didn't know what it would look like. I wanted something that symbolized the journey, the venue and of course, the universal symbol of an Ironman. I landed on a somewhat simplistic design of the Arizona flag centered in the trademark M-dot. I personal dig it.

The remainder of the days have been spent continuing my run training as I ramp back up the mileage for the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon on January 16th. Aside from the Ironman Arizona marathon, my only other full 26.2 was in Portland (1997).  I've always wanted to revisit that pure distance and try to improve on my time (4:39). There were 'issues' during that race that aren't appropriate to discuss at the dinner table so I'll just say that they were preventable and I intend to bust that time wide open in Tempe on January 16th.

Finally, I've been spending time trying to figure out what events I want to participate in this coming year. After a year of training in solitude, I fell like I've lost some of the meaning and reasons I love to run or cycle (and swim now too). I went looking for events that would still challenge me mentally and physically but would get me back to the root of why I love doing this stuff - for fun. Simple as that. If you can't have fun, then don't bother, right?

So after coming up with a pretty stout list of events , I got contacted by a friend of a friend's friend (did you follow that?) to join a Ragnar Relay team (12-person relay team running 200+ miles in 24-hours). Now that sounds like FUN. I'm stoked. Aside from that, here are few more things I'll be doing in 2011:

1. PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon (Jan)
2. San Tan Scramble (50K) Ultra-marathon (Feb)
3. Ragnar Relay: Del Sol (Feb)
4. Tour de Cure charity ride (March)
5. Bike MS Arizona charity ride (March)
6. Pat's run (April)
7. Lake Steven's 70.3 Ironman (Aug)

As we get closer to some of these, I plan to blog a bit more on my progress and share the specifics of the goal and how well I think I'll be able to do against it.

I'm back - just on a different journey for 2011. I hope you stick around.