Michael & Liz are Bloggable

I haven't blogged very much in the last month, and I don't know why. I guess I don't feel like I have much to blog about lately. After my last post I have decided that I really don't care about my injury.

Let me clarify that. I have decided that I am going to do what I want no matter if I get it fixed or not. Granted, it hurts. But some activities hurt it more than others. So far I have run 20 miles in the last 4 days and the only real pain I've had during this time is in the groin soreness immediately after, or the morning after, running. At a comfortable pace, the stomach pain is barely there.

Running is an activity that doesn't aggravate the injury as much as Soccer. Soccer may be out of reach for a while just due to the twisting and turning involved. I actually tested my ability to sprint today and the pain is far less than it was this Summer. So things are improving, I guess that's good.

I am still going to pursue getting the injury corrected, but I've decided this will not stop me from doing what I want to do. I refuse to let my body dictate my life's activities. In fact, I am a firm believer in the exact opposite, that your diet and physical activities will dictate how your body feels. The days I feel the best is when I eat healthy and exercise. I think at this point it would be easy for me to throw in the towel, become fat and lazy, and stop running or working out. Not happening.

So with that said, here's what I want to do. I've talked about it before and if there's anything that annoys me more, it's someone who talks the talk and doesn't walk the walk. I want to participate in an ultra marathon. That's any event farther than a marathon distance of 26.2. Now is as good a time as any.

The one I had in mind was the Lake Hinson 24 Hour Race. What I love about it is the concept of testing your mental will along with your physical. The race is a 1.5 mile loop, and you start at 8AM one morning and you run/walk however much you feel like for 24 hours, and it ends the next morning at 8AM. The reviews I've read call it a tailgate party with some running. I haven't signed up yet, but I don't know what I'm waiting for. It's in September, so it'd give me plenty of time to train.

I have to set a goal in the race because what's the point without a goal? It certainly wouldn't be to win. The winner last year finished just under the world record, going 163 miles in 24 hours. For me, I'd have 2 goals. The first would be to travel AT LEAST 50 miles, and the second would be to never stop. I could take a minute or two break for food or drink or to stretch, but I'd want to continue to move the entire time. I'm under no delusion that I'll run the whole time, so the "continue to move" would be running and walking. I'll have to come up with a game plan to prepare myself for what I'll do.

Back in college, I participated in Relay for Life which was a decent introduction to this kind of race. It started at 6PM and ended the next morning at 8AM. Apparently the point was to have a team and pass a baton or something, I didn't like having to do that. I walked the entire time without stopping. I even ran 9 miles with some friends as well. In those 14 hours I traveled roughly 27 miles according to my pedometer. Without that experience, I think I'd scoff at doing a 24 hour race, but to me, it's possible.

Some stupid injury is not going to stop me from doing what I want to do. I want to run.