Week 6 and Ragnar Prep

12 miles felt great! After last week's tired 10 miles, I was actually a little worried going into my Thursday morning long run.  Last week, I hadn't eaten that morning (busy!) and had hardly eaten anything the night before so I was plodding a little more than usual but this week I was fueled up and felt great the entire 12 miles. Pretty sure I could have gone a few more. I also tried out the Clif Shot Bloks for the first time this week and I liked them! I had the strawberry kind and each little square basically tastes like a giant fruit snack. I tucked one into my jaw and slowly chewed on it while I ran. I'm just not really sure how often to eat them while I'm running. In that 12 miles, I had 4 of them and a bottle of Gatorade and I felt pretty good so I guess that was enough. When I have gels, I always have one after an hour and then another every 15-20 after that. Oh, and I tried Sports Beans last week and I have to pass on those. Way to hard to chew jelly beans and run. Just didn't work for me.

This week I am also in the midst of putting together a neighborhood team for the Ragnar Relay-Wasatch Back June 2010. It's a 188 mile race that you and your team run by each having 3 different legs of the course. It's challenging not only because of the mountain terrain but also because of the exhaustion of running through the night.  It may sound terrible but most people who have run it loved it! (Just more proof that runners are indeed crazy.) So far we have 6 definite team members and, like, 4 maybes. We need 12 so hopefully our maybes all come through. I'll be recruiting pretty hard for the next few days because we'd like to register our team before the end of the month.

Let's see. What else? Oh, only 4 more long runs before the marathon! 14, 16, 18, and 20.  The rest of my long-ish runs will be 6 or 8 miles, which will feel like nothing compared to the others. Anyway, when I thought of that today I couldn't help but see that light at the end of the tunnel for the first time. I am really about to realize this dream! Crazy! 77 more days!