Goal Achievement, Energy Gels and Racing

So this week of running wasn't very eventful. The only thing I did that was more fun than usual was a run on the bonneville shoreline trail. The trailhead parking lot is quite a bit lower than the actually shoreline trail so the run up to it is steep and it's hard to get up it very quick. I managed to get up there but it was something in the range of 25 minutes before I finished my 2nd mile. That's some of the slowest running I've done in a while. But I managed to make up some time on the shoreline trail. While the trail isn't flat the ups and downs equal out more or less so there's equal parts climbing and descending. On the parts of the trail that are on the north slope of the mountain there is ice and snow that hasn't melted. I had to be careful on these parts because slipping isn't fun.

I've now done the math and the best data that I have available shows that I've ran 1989 miles in 2014. So far. My goal is 2000 miles. I should hit that next Tuesday. So, unless there's some horrible accident or unforeseen event (keeping my fingers crosses the apocalypse is here by then), I'll make my goal before Thanksgiving. And it's not impossible I'll get close to 2200 miles by year's end.

Two more things on my mind:

My wife tried a gel for the fist time this morning and she couldn't have been more repulsed by the taste of it. I thought that was pretty funny seeing as how I haven't really  thought about the taste of energy gels at all. I just chug them and keep going. She might like a flavor other than the Gu Roctane cherry lime flavor that she tried this morning. I've heard of people's stomachs not being able to handle energy gels and people don't like them based on that fact. But I've never known anyone to straight up dislike a flavor so much that they couldn't even eat it.

The other thing on my mind is the fact that I don't have a race scheduled until next April and it's driving me nuts. I want a race sooner. It has to be at least a half. But I'd rather have it be a full or longer. There's a race in Moab on Valentine's day and I'm very tempted to give that one a shot. It's a popular race with good support and a good trail. The weather might be pretty cold, but I don't think it's anything that I cant handle. The 55k distance seems like a great opportunity to add to my training for my first 50 mile race in April. The fact that I have family that lives there just helps me with more reasons go to down.

Winter Running

It was cold this week. Much colder than I thought it would be at this time of year. There are pros and cons to running outside in the cold. My main complaint about running in the cold is all the stuff I have to wear to stay warm. Putting on tights and jackets takes extra time before I can get out the door.

I used to be hesitant to run outside in the cold. In fact, my first winter back in Utah I pretty much didn't run outside. I commuted to a gym and ran on a treadmill for most of the miles put in. The next winter I decided that I was going to confront my fear and actually run outside. I got some tights and put on a fleece pullover and before I knew it I was able to run outside in 20 degree weather without any problems. However, this first winter outside I limited myself to just running on a main road with plenty of lights. I didn't deviate much from the same path to get in the miles. 

The next winter I overcame even more of my fears and ran on the backcountry roads that are very dark. It turns out I love it. I liked running where it's incredibly quite and the only thing out there is me leaving tracks on a half inch of freshly fallen snow. 

I think that running has been a constant cycle of getting out of my comfort zone and adapting. People assume that I have always been fast but rarely do they know the time and effort I have put in to getting where I am and that there was a clear point in time where I couldn't run a mile without a near death experience to go along with it. I hope that I won't or don't assume others to be good because of some easier path they took to get there.