Training and Recovery and my first Trail Marathon

I completed my first trail marathon on Feb 20Th at the Rodeo Beach Marathon. It was awesome. I finished in 5 hours, 2 minutes...well before my goal. I was running on a bad knee that I hurt two days prior.

On the Thursday before, I went on a 5:00am run with Clifton and Dan. They convinced me to go even though I was hesitant because I didn't want to burn out even a little bit before the race. I wanted to be in prime shape.

So many online guides talk about tapering, easing up, especially the week before. This Thursday we had decided to run the Pirates Cove loop, which was about 10 miles or so. Besides kicking a rock and hurting my knee, I feel that it helped me to run rather than hurt. So the Dean Karnazes world of thinking seems to be accurate....Run how you feel, not by some strict rule that someone else made up. Also...you need to discover what works for you.

There are so many opinions out there in the blogosphere. Although the collective experiences are very helpful, there is no silver bullet, no one way of doing anything. And isn't that the way life is? We can all think that our way is the only way...When we get into that mentality we become closed minded to other ideas. Running in my opinion is a journey that cannot be mapped out by anyone else. Its our race and our discoveries.

Crazy?

I went on a 28 mile run with my friend Clifton the other day. Well it was supposed to be 26.2 but we got a little lost on the way back. We left at 4am and got back around 10 am. It was awesome. The whole world was asleep and we ran deep into the the redwood forest in Marin. After mile 15 I looked down at my right foot in disbelief. I had mistakenly put on a hiking shoe thinking it was a running shoe at 3:30 am. I couldn't believe I ran my first Marathon in a hiking shoe! Just goes to show...shoes don't matter that much. Well at least you don't need to be running in the latest and greatest shoes all of the time.

Last weekend I ran a 20k in the Headlands and then the next day I decided ro run Mt Burdell in my Vibrams....I learned that being over confident with Vibrams is not a good idea. I hurt my achilles tendon and then sprained my toe. I had to walk 5 miles in the rain down hill to get home. Now I am sick with the flu and am icing my swollen toe. Hope I am ready for another marathon by Saturday.

My Road to 100 Miles

Why do I want to run 100 miles? I can't even call myself an ultra runner yet. I have only been trail running since September of 2009 when a friend of mine invited me to go on my first trail run. So how can I fathom going 100 miles? Well I can't right now, but one thing I have learned in my 3.5 month stint of running is...I can do so much more than I can imagine. If I base my belief in what I can accomplish on my past, I will never imagine doing the impossible.

I learned this after my last 30k trail run at Rodeo Beach (my third race). I never dreamed three months ago that I could go that far...but I did. Now 30k does not seem to be a challenge. After every increase in mileage and endurance, I see my perspective change.

So my goal for 2010...Run 4 Ultra races.
My goal for 2011...Run a 50 miles.
OK I am scared to be specific beyond that...I need to work on that.
But my life goal is to complete the Western States. OK I said it.
I might be crazy, but I wanted to try. I thought of doing this blog because I thought it would be interesting to log my progress from the very beginning...well before I was any kind of ultra runner.