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November 3, 2012. That is the date for the Really Big Free Marathon. I have been signed up for it since last Fall. So far in 2012, I have ran a combined… 6 miles. That was in two, approximately 3 mile runs each.
I now have just about 9 months to build my legs and lungs up for a 26.2 full marathon. Reviewing the course map today, I noticed that there is over a 1,070 foot elevation gain from the start line to about the halfway mark. From there it’s mostly downhill.
Thus far in my running “career” my longest single run was an 8.5 mile uphill run in Washington during the Summer of 2011. My total single day distance record stands at 21.5 miles during three and a half legs of a Ragnar Relay event. That was done without training, which definitely showed.
Being that this will be my first long distance race, I am not setting goals for the event, aside from finishing.This year may include a couple half marathons to gauge my training progress as the year runs by.
If a child can grow from two cells into a real, miniature human being in 9 months, then there is no reason that I can not focus on running regularly and become… a marathoner.
Following an 18.5 mile effort at the 2011 Ragnar Relay Las Vegas event, which was fraught with disorganization and just an overall lack of pure enjoyment, things turned from hectic to extremely crazy.
With an extremely successful 2011 Scoobies For Boobies fundraiser, I was kept very (or too) busy for close to three months. Working from 7am to 4pm at my day job, then heading to the shop to work until almost 1am on a regular basis took its toll. Add to that the demanding nature of the work, mind and body, I was, and still am, exhausted.
Now that the holiday season is over, a new year has arrived, on schedule I might add, it is time to get back into the swing of things. Unfortunately, last week, I was the proud recipient of a moderately serious case of food poisoning. Since last Thursday, I have lost close to 20 pounds, or approximately 12% of my body weight. I didn’t have 2o pounds to lose!
With my stomach not throwing a fit when I eat, it won’t be long before I can try to regain my strength and the weight I lost.
On the list for the comeback caloric assault:
That being said, if any restaurants would like to sponsor my insatiable stomach, we are open to discuss what food is available!
Once my strength is back, training has to start in earnest. I now have 10 months to prepare for my first full marathon, that’s right 26.2 miles! To make this a little more challenging, I have not ran since the RRLV event last October.
Have I bitten off too much? Guess we will see just how strong my will is come race day!
It has arrived, more quickly than I would have liked, and not quickly enough at the same time, FRITURDAY! In under 48 hours, our team will have started our journey to finish this year’s Ragnar Relay Las Vegas. Starting at 9:00am, our first runner shall be one of many leaving in that wave.
Taking on 7.3, 3.1 and 6.8 mile stretches of the challenging 188 mile course, I will be going up against many miles of hills, dust, critters and the elements. Running straight out of my comfort zone and into a place where the mental aspect is at least as important as the physical, Ragnar Relay makes one look deep inside themselves for the fortitude and strength to allow all legs to be completed.
If all goes well, we will finish in under our 32 hour time from 2010.
Tired, sweaty and sleep deprived, we will cross the finish line 12 strong, celebrate our accomplishments and relax for a few.
Only a couple short weeks away until I join a few thousand other crazy people to run from Friday morning, into the evening, straight on till morning and afternoon until we finish the 188 mile Ragnar Relay Las Vegas at Desert Breeze park. This will be my third Ragnar Relay, second time running the Las Vegas event.
This year’s course looks like a total blast, and I am more anxious to get out and run my legs than I have been the past 2 events. Perhaps, because I have been running more and want to see how I have improved, as I run against myself. With most acts, we are our own worst critic, in this case, I am my own worst opponent. I train some, but not in the “proper” way. I run quickly, but not quickly enough.
A challenge I am nervous about tackling may be taken out of my hands. As it sits right now, our team is short one runner, in our van. This means, there are three extra legs that need to be picked up. Am I up for, essentially, doubling my miles to 30 miles (more than a full marathon) in 6 legs over approximately 33 hours?
That is the 11 team member question. My first two legs look like cake, the first two legs of the open position look doable enough. As the saying goes, “the third leg is the hardest.” Which is most definitely true, times two, in this case! If I am needed to run the extra miles, it will be my most challenging task to date. It will also be a good jump start into training for the full 26.2 mile marathon we are signed up for in 2013.
Since May, when I received my new position everything has been running full tilt. It seems like the moment my days were spoken for that all of the other efforts that had been put in for 12 months came to fruition. Customers for design and print services have been steadily increasing each month since May.
Add to that the extremely busy couple months that October and November bring each year with Ragnar Relay Las Vegas as well as the Scoobies For Boobies fundraiser that we help with each year, and the notion of free time is gone. Luckily, it is a labor of love, and being busy and productive is much better than wondering where the next project will come from.
Another venture was brought to my attention a couple weeks ago, an acquaintance messaged me looking for someone with Search Engine Marketing (ie pay per click) experience to handle PPC campaigns in his new project’s overall SEO/SEM efforts.
Each new project is another opportunity to challenge myself, expand my skills and knowledge.
Somehow, I have also worked in time to start a semi-regular running routine as well. A nice 4.5 mile route on Mondays through Green Valley, a traffic filled 3-6 mile route Wednesdays in Western Las Vegas, and hoping to fit in another day or two worth of regular “training” runs, in addition to weekend 5k/10k/Ragnar race runs.
Pushing my mind and body has helped to fuel the fire burning inside me to succeed.
Three months in and things are going well. The job is keeping me busy, adding new tasks on a regular basis, while improving workflow and methodology too. It does not seem like 90 days ago my tenure of unemployment ended. Time flies when you have a purpose and structure flowing in a daily routine.
July also marked the second Ragnar Relay I started, and finished (with extra miles). Starting the event, I was set to run 3 times for 8.5 miles, two 2.9 mile legs. 14.3 miles without training, who would do that? After running 17.5 miles during the Ragnar Relay, Las Vegas in 2010, I figured, why not try for less?
As with the Vegas event, extra miles were aplenty for our team. Starting out with a team of 11 (instead of 12) we were already tempting fate. Fortunately for us, one of our team members was training for the Burning River 100 and offered to pick up the extra legs as her training. Fantastic!
After our group of 6 runners finished up their first legs, one of the runners suffered from heat exhaustion with a possible side of dehydration. She had to end up in the ER to get two bags of IV fluids put into her system. Our team captain picked up some pain and numbness during her run, so she kept the other runner company in the hospital.
That left our van two runners short, being the idiot that I am, after running the single longest distance at one time earlier in the morning, I attempted the second longest run of my life: 7.5 miles. This was a combination of a 4.1 and 3.4 mile legs back to back. My legs were feeling pretty good as I finished those legs as the sun descended below the horizon. Trouble almost popped up as I was cooling down and felt tendons popping with each step in my left ankle.
The next morning came around, time for run #3, a 5.5 mile leg of steadily increasing hills. Starting slow and steady as to not aggravate the tight muscles, I kept (what I thought was) a moderate, steady pace up the course. That 5.5 miles seemed to go on endlessly! Each time a Ragnar course sign would appear, I would look for the chute and my team’s next runner, such a torturous run. Finally, the chute was in sight, a large number of teams were there watching for their runners to run into view. Utilizing the last bit of reserved energy I had, my legs churned faster as I sprinted to the exchange.
Photos later showed me nearly collapsing as soon as the exchange was made. A dip in a frigid lake and a hot tub helped keep me from being sore or tight the next morning. Northwest Passage was another incredible event, and I can not wait for the October Las Vegas run to arrive!
It was said after last year’s Vegas event, this time, I am serious! I will actually train! Shocking, for sure. After running a respectable 12 minute mile average for the first 8.5 miles, slowing to a 16 minute mile pace for the 7.5 mile section and an embarrassing 20 minute mile pace for the last 5.5 mile section, I need to step up my game!
That being said, this morning was the first where I woke up and started on my conditioning. One day down, 80 more to go until Ragnar Relay Las Vegas 2011!
I will be volunteering with some of the Ragnar Relay staff this weekend to assist at the 6th Annual Laughlin Half Marathon / 5K run. With a wide variety of runners and sponsors involved, networking with more people in the community is always a good idea.
If this overcast, windy weather sticks around, it should make for an interesting event. Hopefully the runners are ready for non-optimal running conditions.
In other areas of the job search, there may be more opportunities appearing in the city. All it will take is one good company in need of a well-rounded employee to have their interest piqued by my cover letter and resume. Once I get an in-person interview, I am positive that I can get an offer.
So far, I have ran quite a bit. Finished the ‘Fat Boy 5k’ in under 25 minutes, with an average 8:05 minute mile. This was quite surprising with the lack of training in the past.
Upcoming scheduled running events will hopefully see a fairly drastic improvement in my times.
On other fronts, the past couple weeks have included visits to various events and seminars. These have been quite fortuitous, as I have re-connected with people I have not spoken with in a while. Some of which are in need of assistance for upcoming projects. This can, hopefully, turn into some steady work.
In the mean time, the job search is continuing, as tough as it is out here, there seems to be decent positions opening up from time to time. Now it is just a matter of figuring out how to capitalize on them.
In order to get out into the community more, I have been selected as a volunteer to help promote the 2011 running of Ragnar Relay’s Las Vegas event. This has added a large number of community interactions each month, including joining local running clubs a number of trail and road course running.
These local weekly club runs and monthly races are working on putting me into even better shape. The first event I ran this year surprised me, as I was unaware 8 minute miles were my slow pace. Coming up in July, a mere 5 months away, I will be running Ragnar Relay’s Northwest Passage in the #3 slot. As long as I can survive the brutal 6.8 mile Very Hard leg climbing through a long section of the Pacific Northwest, the other two legs should be a breeze.
I am hoping that the new contacts attained in the running community can help me find more opportunities to re-join the work force.