5 More Treadmill Miles

I woke up a little earlier today for a change. So I had plenty of time for a nice run.  I just did 5 miles but it felt really good.  I officially signed up for the Queenstown, New Zealand Marathon today. Something nice to look forward to in the middle of November.  I will have at least 10 more long runs before that one - all official marathons.  Hopefully I will be in good shape for that one after all that!

I'll be home in another 5 days and the first thing I want to do is go for a long run outdoors!  I'm suffering from the treadmill blues. But I'm glad I have it because outdoors here right now is just not a possibility. Sometimes you just have to use what you have.

I need to work on my fundraising for the Marine Corps Marathon too. 

Help by clicking on the little running girl picture to make a donation! 

Run to Beat Cancer!

5 Today

I made it down to the treadmill for 5 miles.  It's so hot in the exercise room that sometimes it feels like I'm running in a sauna! Of course I suppose I could step outdoors then I would be very happy to be running back in the indoor heat.  -10 with a -30 wind chill.  I guess I will have to appreciate the treadmill.  But I am really looking forward to being able to run outdoors again. I go home in a week, then I can run outdoors to my heart's content.  Then a week later, off to Australia.  It's pretty warm there so maybe all of this warm treadmill training will be helpful. 

3 More Miles

Not a very impressive run today.  I felt like I was dragging.  But at least I did get down there and move a little.  Its been hard for me to find treadmill motivation. Looking forward to getting home and spending time outdoors.

Maybe my list of the rest of the marathons on my 2015 agenda will spark some ambition:

April 12 - 3 Waters Marathon - Bunbury Australia
May 3 - Flying Pig Marathon - Cincinnati, Ohio
May 9 - Fargo Marathon - Fargo, North Dakota
May 24 - Coeur D'Alene Marathon - Coeur D'Alene, Idaho
July 25 - Sugarite Marathon - Colorado/New Mexico (it crosses the border)
July 26 - Eagle Nest Marathon - New Mexico
August 8 - Maasai Marathon - Kenya, Africa
August 16 - Moose's Tooth Marathon - Anchorage, Alaska
October 4 - Jersey Marathon - Jersey, UK
October 25 - Marine Corps Marathon - Washington DC
November 21 - Queenstown Marathon - New Zealand

Guess I need to get a move on to be ready for all of that.  Australia next.

3 Short Miles

Well, I think I may have solved the problem of how to acclimatize to higher altitude for the Maasai Marathon in Kenya that is at about 5700 feet. It has a 7 hour time limit but on tougher courses it takes me that long, even though my standard time is between 5:30 and 6:00.  I found two Mainly Marathon events in New Mexico the weekend before I fly to Kenya.  The Sugarite Marathon starts in Colorado and ends in New Mexico and is at 7500 feet elevation.  The next day the Eagle Nest Marathon is nearby and at 8500 feet. They both have no time limit so even if I do take a long time, I can still finish, get a medal, count them as marathons in Colorado and New Mexico, but most importantly - get some good high elevation running practice.  From there I plan to go hang out and hike in the Leadville, Colorado area at 10,000 feet, then fly to Nairobi from Denver.  I did much better climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro after spending a week cross country skiing in Leadville, so I figure this is a really good plan.  Plus I love the places where these marathons are being held. It will be a nice little vacation before a vacation!

But today I only ran 3 miles.  I was busy chatting on the phone with Marathon Tours about my Nairobi flight so got to sleep quite late. So of course also woke up late.  But I felt pretty good on the treadmill today and kept up my marathon pace.  I'm registered for 11 more marathons this year.  That will make this year my record year with 15 total. 

In the back of my mind though, they are all still to fight cancer.

Donate to fight cancer here!

5 Miles on the Treadmill Again!

I felt a little inspired today, at least enough to get downstairs to the treadmill. I just can't wait to get home again so I can run outdoors. I feel like I will want to run everywhere I go for the first week.  Of course, the second week I'm flying off to Australia for the Bunbury Marathon, so I will probably do some running around Australia during my two week stay there.  At least it will be warmer than it is here.  The wind is really howling here today with the wind chill about -20.  I'll be home in 12 days so I can catch up on life in the great outdoors again.

5 Miles

I really had planned to run a lot farther but there just wasn't time before work.  So I'll have to be satisfied with a good 5 mile treadmill run. It's hard to find enough time to do a 3 hour long run when you have to work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours, shower, eat, etc.  I like to eat breakfast when I wake up then I like at least an hour before hitting the treadmill.  Then I have the problem that the kitchen closes so if I do a long run I miss dinner.  I haven't figured a good way around this issue yet.  I guess insomnia days will have to be my long run days when I'm working in Deadhorse.

I got all my hotels, cars, and flights arranged for the 3 marathons in May.  I'm still trying to figure out the logistics for my Australia trip next month.  I have my flight and found the site to get a train ticket from Perth to Bunbury. But the rest of the trip will just be an ongoing exciting adventure that ends with my flight home from Sydney.

It's been my plan to climb Mt Fuji in July but so far I haven't been looking at the idea seriously.  But today the Climbing Mt Fuji book that I ordered finally arrived.  So I'm going to do it.  I don't want to take the typical short hike from the 5th station like most people do.  I want to do the original pilgrim route, the Yoshida Route that starts at the Kita Guchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine at the base of the mountain.  It sounds wonderful and at least until I reach the 5th station I should be away from the serious crowds.  Something amazing to look forward to this summer.

5 On The Treadmill Again

-33F wind chill -51F That's why I ran once again on the treadmill.  I really miss the great outdoors, but it's not so great for running out there right now.

I felt a little sluggish today.  Maybe its the weather! Actually it's really a beautiful day as long as you are dressed in about 17 layers.

I've got my new Team In Training site up and running now. I still am unable to change my password which is really odd.  But at least I can access it and edit it.  I could use more donations, although I did get one today.  I made one of my own as well.

Click the picture below to go to the fundraising page and make a donation to help fund a cancer cure.


Marine Corps Marathon

3 Short But Fast Miles

I purposely just did a short 3 miles on the treadmill today.  I ran the whole time at my hopeful marathon pace.  No breaks, no stopping to stretch, just stayed consistent.  It felt pretty good.  Now just to be able to do it for 26.2 miles.  I'm not sure I could focus at that pace long enough to accomplish that goal on the treadmill though.

I signed up for my next Team In Training event which will be the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC.  There seems to be some problem with the initial Team In Training link, so for now I will just have to wait until that is fixed.  But I'm in, and that is what matters.  One more event to motivate me to run faster, and raise money to fight cancer. 

10 Miles Today

My Team In Training coach said 10 miles for today.  That's a long run on a treadmill but since that's my only options, forced myself to go down there.  I watched several episodes of  Big Bang Theory and also watched one of the little course videos on the treadmill.  I watched the one running trails in New Zealand.  What a beautiful course that was!

Speaking of New Zealand, I just signed up for the Queensland Marathon Tour last night.  Something absolutely amazing to look forward to in November.  I was a little worried at first because the tour ends on November 28 which means I fly home then, and two days later fly to Deadhorse.  But then I remembered, they are a day later there, so I will likely get home on the 28th or maybe even the 27th.  That's enough padding to be sure I make it home in time.  Worth the gamble anyway!

I want to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC with Team In Training for October.  The TNT website shows it as a Flex option but when I attempted to sign up it didn't show that option.  I suppose it's just too early in the year.  But I sure want to do that one.  It will be a great chance to visit all my cousins back in that area too.

6 Miles

Started out very slow and sluggish and wondering if I would even make it through the first mile.  But around mile 4 suddenly I got a second wind and forced myself to gradually speed up to my desired speed.  I felt pretty good. Maybe the magic number is mile 4.  It's really hard for me to get motivated to head down to the treadmill, but once I get there I usually am really glad I did it. 

I now have 7 marathons on my upcoming agenda for this year.  April Bunbury, Australia. May Cincinnati Flying Pig for Team In Training, followed by Fargo, ND the next weekend. Then on May 24th I will celebrate my birthday at the Coeur D'Alene Marathon in Idaho. So far nothing scheduled for July but August 8th off to Kenya for the Maasai Marathon followed by the Anchorage Big wild Life Marathon on the 16th. October 4th I will head to Jersey in the UK for the Jersey Marathon with the Marathon Globetrotters.

With all of that in my future, it is best to find the motivation to head down to that treadmill when I am up here in Deadhorse where it is impossible to run outdoors. 

Short Workout

Today was not one of my finest.  Not sure where my motivation went but it was all I could do to make it through a 3 mile treadmill run.  I just felt tired and probably more bored than anything.  But I did try to pick up the speed. 
A short run is better than no run at all.  I miss running in the great outdoors!

Another Day Another 5 Miles

I thought I would just do a really short 3 mile run.  But then I decided on 4 miles.  But when I got to 4 miles, I went on to 5 miles. I worked on pushing the pace too.  I felt stronger today than yesterday.  I hope it's a trend.  I know most of my sluggishness is mental.  Fast music helps me keep moving.  I want to increase my mileage too.  Back in December, I was really bad at keeping up with training mileage.  Maybe it was just the darkness.  That month with no sun at all can seem pretty dreary.  It is easy to roll over and go back to sleep when I'm up here in the Arctic all of December.  I usually black out the windows in my room during the sunny months to help me get more sleep.  These last two days, I let the sun shine in and it didn't seem to stop me from sleeping.  But I think it did keep me from rolling over and getting 10 hours of sleep instead of what I really needed.

I'm running the Bunbury Marathon in April in Australia and my goal is to have a much better time than in my last few slow marathons.  It may not seem like much of a goal but for goodness sake, at least I want to beat 6 hours.  That's just ridiculously slow!  I probably won't ever get to Boston, but at least I'd like to stop worrying about reaching the finish line before they pull it down! Australia gives me continent number 6.  Then in August I will reach the 7 continent mark with the Maasai Marathon in Kenya. That will be a happy day.

5 Mile Treadmill Run

I'm back up here in Deadhorse. Just had the most incredible blizzard but was able to sneak in on the early morning flight yesterday instead of getting stuck hanging out in the Anchorage Airport until things finally cleared up.

Judging by the speed of my last 4 marathons, it is definitely time for me to concentrate on picking up the pace.  I realize the last 4 came with significant challenges, extreme heat in the Bahamas, extreme wind in Chile, and a long list of inconveniences there in Antarctica.  But I am getting tired of always bringing up the rear.  It's easy to just blame it on my age, but I think I can place more of the blame on my own laziness than on just my age. 

So today I hit the treadmill hard, pushed my speed, and got in a good solid 5 miles.  Increasing my speed is going to be my focus this month as I train indoors on the treadmill.  Not much chance of running outdoors around here this month.  I'm just lucky to be able to get to work 1/2 mile in the car.  -20 now and of course the usual wind.  Deep snow where it hasn't blown away leaving something that would make a great ice skating rink in its wake! Yes, in times like these, I appreciate the treadmill.


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