Running

Rider 1 agreed to handle all the posts this week. How's that working out so far?

I will gloss over ride reports for this weekend except to say that they made me tired. I will also say that I don't like going up hills. I should also mention that it is not my fault that I don't like going up hill; it is my family genetics that gave me my height and my "big bones", a.k.a. excess weight. I had nothing to do with it; except the eating and drinking part for the last couple of decades. And lastly I will say that I thought we were going to have a weekend of sun and those glorious pre-spring rides that make you realize that warmer weather is just around the corner. Instead we had very "pleasant" weather that was without question nicer than the February weather, but just not as nice as the April and June weather I am looking forward to enjoying. And yes, that means that I will burn out and give up after June.

And that leads me to the point to today's post, which is that I went running today. See the connection? No?

I signed up for and made it through the lottery for the Leadville 100. That sentence alone could launch a thousand posts (and probably will), but I am going to start small.

I went to Leadville for the mountain bike race three years ago. I didn't finish. While I was pushing my bike up an endless mountain trail (which was literally started at about 9,300 feet of elevation and finished at 12,550 feet and includes pitches of 30% (yes, that is correct - 30%)), I said to myself that in order to prepare I should have realized that I would be pushing my bike and I should have done some training for it. I hate running and it is hard to know what could be worse than running uphill at 11-12,000 feet, except that I know for sure that one thing that would be worse is actually doing THAT and having done NO training for it.

So, this year I am doing some training for it. I have been running four times in 2010, so I am not exactly burning up the rubber on my soles, but so far in 2010 because of my work schedule, it's only been the last couple of weeks when I am home during any daylight and a not-unreasonable temperature except on the weekends, which weekends I usually reserve for cycling, which I enjoy, as opposed to running. But this morning I had a limited amount of time, I wanted a workout and I figured 40 minutes of running was more useful than 40 minutes on the trainer.

In retrospect I'm sure it was, but the pain in my legs and the memory of the experience make me wonder what the hell I was doing when I signed up for the Leadville 100 again. I thought, at the time, that the challenge would be motivating and it would give me the opportunity to finish the race (which is still bugging me from not finishing in 2007). Right now, a burger and beer seems like a better idea.