Am I A Warrior?

My brother and I have had a momentary lapse of sanity and registered for the Warrior Dash. Actually, it looks like a lot of fun and we're not taking it too seriously. But ... since my money has been paid, the frugal side of myself is insisting the lazy side of myself get busy training!

So today I went to my favorite local park for a "long run." (That's in quotes, because since it's been over 2 weeks since my last run of any kind, 'long' is a relative thing.) I did three miles.

I know that's not a very impressive long run for someone who 15 months ago completed a half marathon. But that was 15 months ago, and a lot of life has happened in between and I'm a little de-conditioned. So three miles was good for me today. And it was three hard-working miles.

I did the big 1.38mi outer loop first, for a good, slow warm-up. Walked much of it, ran the last bit. Then I hit the "soft surface" loop in the middle. This one is just over a mile long and undulates beautifully through the woods and around the disc golf course. The trail is crushed gravel, some of it packed and hard; some fresher and looser. I thought the squishy surface and the short, steep hills would be good practice for these 40-year-old legs to prepare for whatever kind of crazy trail the Dash will be on. I did the loop in just under 13 min, which is not bad considering the steep hills and turns and the short walk break I took to drink my water. (Don't know about you, but I can't drink while running. ;)

I finished the run on the paved trail, and had a good stretch afterward. It was a great workout and really burned off some stress. I'm thankful for the sunshine, for nice parks, and my family's cheerful attitude about my running. And for the gift of being healthy enough to run.

As for the race - My bro is going to kick my butt! He can already run 3mi in 26min! And he's five years younger. But we're going to have a great time enjoying each other's company in what a friend calls a "random act of fitness."

Next up: keep running the soft trail once a week; do some speed drills to try to shave some time off my 3 miles; find some things to practice climbing over; lots and lots of push ups so I don't embarrass myself going over the vertical obstacles. :o

**my 6yo son just read some of this over my shoulder and said, "you gotta speed up, man!" thanks for the vote of confidence, son.


*** i forgot to mention that the run was even.more.fun b/c i was wearing my new Nike tempo shorts (in vivid pink), thanks to a gift cert. to my fave running store. woo hoo!