Weight Loss

Sunday, October 17, 2010

I Love Fall


Actually, I love spring and summer as well.  However, there's a lot to love about fall...the aspens exploding in glorious golden hues, cooling temperatures but still a touch of warm afternoons, and football.  Right now, just finished watching the Denver Broncos who sadly could not pull off a win against the Jets.  So now, I'm hoping my fantasy football team keeps its lead with only two more players remaining to play for both sides.  This could be a lot to wish for.

End of this week, it was time to get back to running.  I took two weeks off from running after the race.  Well, 11 days, because I was going a little stir crazy.  I stretched my legs on Friday with a 3 miler and hit 8 miles on my Saturday run with the group.  Feels so good to be running again!  Probably not as joyous of a feeling as Happy Trails had yesterday...Getting back to running is in a way its like putting on a comfy sweatshirt again.  It fits, its comfortable, feels just right and makes you smile. 

This morning I made my way to downtown Denver at 5:00am.  Not to run, but to help my running group staff an aid station for the Denver Rock and Roll Marathon (and Half Marathon).  While the race has been around for a number of years, this marks its inaugural year of becoming part of the Rock and Roll Marathon.  Our group dressed in white button downs, bowties and running tights.  We were dressing as restaurant wait staff - and got a lot of positive comments from runners.  It was a great deal of fun, but what a mad rush to make sure all the runners got their water or Cytomax.  Because we were at the 3.3 mile aid station, after clean up, I had time to make my way to the Mile 13 marker to cheer on the half marathoners.  It was great to see my friends and members of my pace group finish!  It made me sad that I wasn't running it. 

I've thought more about my future races.  And while I still want to run this by my Coach, a few thoughts occured to me.  First, I love Colorado.  Why would I want to travel to Wisconsin or Florida to race?  I'm sure Wisconsin and Florida are lovely states to run in, but I don't need to travel there to race.  And my savings account sure would appreciate not having to spring for airfare.  Second, maybe I picked the Wisconsin and Florida races because I was letting elevation and altitude scare me away.  Since Leadville is the ultimate goal, I need to embrace elevation gain and altitude sooner than later.

So for now, my target race is the North Fork 50 on July 16 - a mere 271 days away.  And I really would like to race more, so I'm planning on the following training races:  Collegiate Peaks 25 miler on May 7 in Buena Vista and the Golden Gate Dirty 30 (50km) in Black Hawk, CO. 

I'm making my way to dropping the 24 pounds I announced I wanted to do last week.  I'm down 2.2 pounds since I last posted a blog entry.  Hoping to keep up my momentum, especially since my mom is coming to visit on Thursday and that may involve some eating out and drinking.

Weekly total:  11 miles running (Friday 3 miles, Saturday 8 miles)

Workout Plan for the Week:
Monday:  strength training
Tuesday: run
Wednesday: run
Thursday: strength training
Friday: run or rest day
Saturday: run
Sunday: hoping to hit the trails for a little while (if my Mom lets me!)

Have a great week!

Laura

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you have an exciting group of races on tap for next year - good for you! Like you, we have so many great races right here in CO - here is an out-of-stater that is on my "someday" list:
    www.orcasisland50k.blogspot.com
    It's funny when you are not able to run (as in ME) how all of a sudden there are all these great events that I want to run! :-) Keep up the great work!

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  2. Wow! Leadville is a goal! You've got more guts then I do. I've thought of doing Pikes Peak,but never a 100 miler.

    Sounds like a lot of fun at the race on Sunday. I'm sorry I missed it.

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