Goodbye Tiny Social Life I Had Left.

Hello 50 Mile.

It's official. I am registered for the North Face Endurance Gore-Tex Challenge with an estimated finishing time of 12 hours and 20 minutes. Ballpark. I have 13 hours til the cutoff.

Now I will share a photo montage-ish!

First Race and Half Marathon Ever - Jazz Half Marathon (Oct 2010)

Second race, no picture. I BELIEVE it was the Police Week 5k in DC. (May 2011)
Third race, no picture. I think it was the Komen for the Cure 5k in DC. (June 2011)

Fourth race - Autism Speaks Fourth of July 5k (July 2011)

Fifth race - Virginia Happy Trails Club Women's Trail Half Marathon (Sept 2011)

Sixth race - Baltimore Half Marathon (Oct 2011)

Seventh race - Marine Corps Marathon (Oct 2011)

Eighth race - Rosaryville 50k (Nov 2011)

To come:

Ninth race: Pax River Trail 10k (Feb 2012)
Tenth race: Rock N Roll DC Marathon (March 2012)
11th race: *Possible* Pittsburgh Marathon (May 2012)
12th race: EX2 Off-Road Half Marathon (May 2012)
13th race: North Face Endurance Challenge 50 MILE (June 2012)

All previous runs from now til June will serve as training runs and more experience with race logistics.

So that means after June I will need a break I will have completed three 5ks, one 10k, four half marathons, possibly three full marathons, attempted one 50k, and (cross your fingers and toes) one 50 Mile.

Whew.

I will need a break. I will be super exhausted.

I will need something to fill the void!!! :D

No but really. I'm not quite sure how the next 4 months will pan out, including the completion of the race and the physical, mental, and emotional state it will leave me in, so right now I'm not willing to make any plans farther out than the 50 Mile. I would love to say I will give myself a little time off then jump back into training and go for the jugular, the JFK50... but we will just have to play things out. I would love to still do Iron Mountain 50k if things go well. And run a 5k with my mom :)

I will make a confession. I'm not SO terrified of running 50 miles. I'm scared WTHM will happen again and I will injury myself too early on to finish the race. That trail half made me lose all confidence in myself footing wise, and the only thing that can fix it is to dedicate my weekend training to trail work so I feel at home out there.

There's a lot of stuff swimming around in my noggin. Like, are back to back long weekend runs the most effective training plan or is it better to focus more on just X amount of hours on your feet...

In other news, I'm still under the weather and I am choosing to forgo my two mile run in favor of breathing instead. Also...I didn't realize how much fiber my cabbage soup holds. Wowza.

Beans, lentils, cabbage, carrots, diced tomatoes, chicken broth, vegetable broth, little seasoning ...boil and done! And then proceed to use the bathroom a bunch. Not bad though. Soup was tasty haha. Just gotta only eat one bowl a day. And not eat anything else with fiber in it the rest of the day..hahah.

Also also, excited about the Biggest Loser tonight. I'm SO excited, that I decided to order chinese. So I can watch them sweat and work out while I gorge myself with bad food.

Win.

Hope I feel better soon so I can get back outside!