Let the madness continue

We got into the sold out Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back!!!  Our number came up on the waiting list this week and I literally was jumping up and down when I got the phone call.  I wanted to scream but kept at least my voice composed for the angel on the other side of the line with the news I'd been waiting ever so patiently for months for.

And so it is official - training starts the first of February.  Race day mid June with a semi-new crop of fellow crazies.  I've already substituted two runners from the original twelve who committed and paid back in July when we got on the waiting list.  Luckily I had two people waiting in the wings for a shot at joining the party. This year Hubby and I will be in "the other" van so we can experience the entire race route.  Since Hubby is back to tip top shape and is officially one of the strong runners, we have to be in the van with the ubber-hard "Ragnar Hill".  And this year I'm taking a leg with shorter total mileage.  I learned my lesson last year.  Hard means hard when it's labeled as such regardless of how innocuous the elevation map makes it look.

I use Nike+ to track my running - it's the coolest app on my iPhone - and every year they give you a rundown of the previous year.  I ran a total of five hundred miles in 2011 averaging three runs and ten miles a week.  Pretty impressive considering I haven't run more than a couple of miles since Thanksgiving.  Compared to 2010 when I *only* ran three hundred seventeen miles I'm pretty happy with myself.

I'm slowly easing myself back into training mode.  I ran twice this week and it still amazes me to wake up in the morning without pain in my foot.  All the physical therapy and massage therapy has worked wonders and I'm so grateful it was so easily solved.  It's insane how much you get out of practice when you stop doing cardio regularly and I'm trying not to get frustrated that I can't just head out and easily do three to five miles at a time.  I have January to get back to where I was before I have to start hard core training.  Twenty three weeks until Ragnar.  I hope it is enough time.