Daily life and ultra marathons

I know I keep saying it, but good grief the weeks are flying by.  It’s now Thursday and I can’t quite figure where the week went.

Sunday got up mega early (well daylight saving started so felt even earlier) and headed out to Golden Gate park to do a 4 miler with Kayley.  As weary as I was from Saturday’s efforts I was surprised at how invigorating the run was…..although I was very grateful it was short.  It really did loosen up the muscles and continues to be a very scenic place to run.  After the run we headed off to watch some of Kayley’s friends play touch football.  Which is American football but players wear a belt with ribbons on each hip – to “tackle” someone you have to pull off a ribbon (not allowed to physically make contact).  Other than that, similar rules to football with four turnovers allowed and two teams (offense and defense) playing.  Although “we” didn’t win it was fun to watch and it was their first game so I thought they put in a very credible game.

In my typical fashion I have been pondering my running goals for next year (not even having completed my three marathons yet…….but ya gotta plan ahead!).  Running with Katy last night we got onto Ultra marathons and yep, by midday I had decided THAT was my goal for 2012.  An Ultra Marathon is anything more than a marathon but typically 50m or 50k, 100m or 100k.  I am going to try for a 50k which is 31miles, a mere 5 miles more than a marathon (OMG, yeah that’s a big 5 miles and they are typically trail runs so quite different running from the road races).  Anyway, formulating the plan – choose a race first, join a running club (most likely in San Jose so I can do the evening workouts and Katy is keen to join too, she is so used to having training buddies, this is all new to me) and get back to a personal trainer at the gym.   Ultra’s are a lot more complex to run and I’ll have to really understand nutrition, gear (you can find yourself high in the hills, depending on the race you choose, but no matter, it all has to be thought out) and the mindset.  I am as excited about this as I was when I took on the NY Marathon.  I really will have to lose weight etc etc etc.  Craziness but awesomely fun, exciting and scary to think about actually becoming an ultra marathoner!