I skied!

Corey and me grinning before my ski adventure. I did pretty well on the magic carpet ride and then rocked the Easy Rider. I think I'll stick to the beginning runs for a little while and work on my french fries (I am good with pizza). It got cold though. I basically dressed for XC skiing and about froze.

Thanks everyone! for the training thoughts. And Dorothy it's awesome to see you :-) Olga I looked at the Jurek schedule (forgot I had it) and think I can easily modify it. My problem, as always, is that trails are snow covered. But I can get enough endurance/cardio with long runs and snowshoeing and stuff. I figure if I do Crossfit 3-4 times per week, I will gain some of the strength in my glutes and quads that I would otherwise gain out on the trails. It will all work out. I sketched out a rough plan and am officially at least thinking about the fact that I have a race in June. The Crossfit coaches are helping me. I am lucky to have so many resources! And if you have strong opinions don't worry about seeming arrogant -- just email me :p

To make up for how incredibly boring this blog post is/was, I will treat you to this picture I stole from the Crossfit website. Penny took it. We're learning to KILL people. Well, ok maybe not exactly but I am learning to punch people and heavy bags. It's really fun.

ANYONE WANNA PLAY COACH???

Your student ran strong in 2008 but hasn't done a lot of running since October when she ran 50 miles. She believes her base is good enough to jump back into things without risking injury. She has started Crossfit and is a little stronger if a little diminished endurance-wise. She wants to incorporate Crossfit into her training regimine (3-4 times per week?) and is, remarkably, still a little burned out from last year's focused training that spanned about 7 months. She might have a bit of a short attention span. She has lots of gear (skate skis, classic skis, downhill skis, snowshoes, bike trainer) for crosstraining. The trails are covered in snow so any and all running will be road running or snowshoe "running." She plans to run a flat 24 hour event in March. Her goal race is the Western States Endurance Run in late June. That's roughly 24 weeks away. She is dropping the holiday 5 pounds just fine, ok?!?! How would you coach her if you were to offer your free $0.02???

Lame. . . I know. . .

NERVES

The last time I ran "long" was at LeGrizz in October. I stopped logging in September and can't really be sure what I've been doing for the past few months. After Nikki Kimball told me she doesn't keep a training log I felt temporarily emboldened and justified in not keeping a log. Afterall, I do begin to obsess with my weekly mileage and not logging keeps me from the obsessing. But, alas, I am fairly sure I haven't been doing a whole lot. The point of all this is that Saturday I'm running a "Fat Ass 50k" with the Helena Ultra Running League ("HURL"). I hope I still have it in me to run long. If this goes well I will be optimistic about my training. If it goes poorly I will still be optimistic but will likely have to put the pedal to the metal with my training for Western States.

The running club's Thursday night runs are in the cemetary these days -- it's a nice place to run. With all the snow and the warmer temps it was a mess up there. But we had a good time. Kent's two dogs saw a fox or something and took off at top speed -- Kent looked like he was skiing -- I wish I could have taken video of it. It was totally unreal.

So, let's see how it goes on Saturday. Between the great company and my iPod as emergency backup company, I bet I'll be fine. But I really don't know since I haven't run more than a few hours in, oh, who knows how long!!!

Sunny Skateskiing

Left to right, Ty, Leanne, Sonal and TJ. We went skate skiing today, which is a fun but difficult activity for me. I am pretty bad at it. It was gorgeous though and pretty much perfect.
Although I still have no technical ability, I could tell that I am stronger because I had much more control on the downhill parts. Otherwise, I'm a flailing mess. Remarkably, I fell only once, and that was while standing still.

The sky was a perfect blueberry color. Days like this are rare in the wintertime 'round these parts.

I think that skate skiing is more work than running. Much like snowshoeing. Probably in large part due to the fact that it's pretty new to me. Also because it's more of a full-body endeavor. After 2 hours of this I thought I was going to fall over in exhaustion. Hopefully this winter I can make some big improvements. I actually had someone ask me if I was new and gave me a card for lessons. :-)

WELCOME 2009

One of my Christmas presents from Ted was overshoes for showshoeing. They are thick neoprene and are basically mega-gaitors. Today I took them for a spin and was really happy to be wearing them. My feet were warm and dry and happy. But the real reason I was happy was because it was a beautiful snowy day and it was nice to get out and work out some of the New Year's tiredness from being up late and stuff.

Sonja and I snowshoed (sort of ran) for about 2 hours and I was ready to fall over by the time we were done. What an incredibly challenging workout. I'm tired all over, including my trunk which worked hard trying to maintain balance in the uneven snow.

Sonja cools herself off by burrowing in the snow and rolling around. It's prett y cute. When I hook her harness to my waist on a snowy trail she seems to be in doggie heaven.
Gotta get a cheesy self-portrait to prove I was really there.

2008 was a good year for me. I ran 100 miles, which was a very proud accomplishment for me, knocked an hour and a half off my 50 mile time and became an aunt. I took some great trips and had a lot of fun. Sadly, 2008 also marked the 10 year anniversary of my mom's death -- it's hard to believe it's been 10 years since she passed. That's almost a third of my life. However, 2009 will mark 10 years that Ted has been my special friend. It's hard to believe that he's been in my life for 10 years. That's almost a third of my life!!! And truthfully, it just gets better and better.

With each passing year I have found more balance and more happiness. Accordingly, I greet 2009 with open arms and say "bring it on year."