Random and occasional thoughts on

First of all a few definitions to make sure everyone understands the title: Leadville: A city in Colorado that sits at about 10,000 feet above sea level. Trail: A path, generally smaller and less maintained than a road. Sometimes just wide enough for one person to walk. Marathon: 26.2 mile running event. " Trail Marathon ": A marathon run completely or largely on trails. DNF: Did Not Finish. A title awarded to a competitor that fails to finish an event. Generally the biggest stigma associated with this is self-inflicted. DFL: Dead Freakin Last. A title awarded to the last finisher of a race. Again, the biggest stigma associated with this is self-inflicted as there has to be one in every race. DNS: Did Not Start. When a competitor registers for a race and then fails to make it to the starting line. Frequently this is due to an injury before the race and accordingly should not carry any stigma. Starting Line: Parking was easier than almost any other race ...

This is long over due and I'm sure I will not be able to do this race justice, but here are some rambling musings. I had not done a race in over a year when I saw a message from my friend Kim saying she was putting together a team for a 200 mile relay race called Ragnar Relay Del Sol.  It was several months away and I thought it would be a good tool to motivate me to keep up my recently restarted running.  Kim was very clear that this was a run for fun team and that it didn't matter how fast (or slow) we were. The plan to get my running motivation worked and I had several very good months of gradually increasing miles and faster paces. By the time race week was getting close, I decided to run another short race the weekend before Ragnar.  The Lost Dutchman 8k was a fun race and shorter than any of my legs would be for Ragnar so I wasn't worried about this hurting my ability for Ragnar.  I had a great race and was glad to be racing again. The way this event work...

During my run this morning, I was thinking about how much my life has changed over the past year.  In January 2010, I was married, though the marriage was dying and had just finished with probably the worst Christmas season I can ever recall, (with few bright spots).  My fitness had dropped off from my Ironman race in 2008 to a total running mileage for January of barely over 30 miles and I couldn't run for more than a half a mile without taking a walk break.  I only rode my bike once and hadn't been swimming (which I love doing) in several months. So what will 2011 bring? By October of last year, my divorce was finalized and I had started running more consistently.  Now, after a good Christmas season I am in my fourth month of steadily improving running (already have almost as many miles by the 9th as I did all of Jan last year). I am registered for a relay race in Feb and planning several other races during the year.  I would like to get a new marathon PR ...