Another month, another race

Here we go again! Another month, another race. Ultra #4 for the year. So far it's been Run for Regis 50k (er um, 36 miles)-January 16, Beast of Burden 100 miler February 12, Copper Canyon 50 miler March 6, and now it's time for April - The Glacier Ridge 50 miler. I've been trying to get back in the swing of things since running Copper Canyon - and it's going a wee bit better. I've had a couple massages at work (Wendy is a life saver!) and have been trying (TRYING) to be a bit better at stretching. Awesome coach Ray Z has been giving me my schedule and is trying to get me back on track. Slowly but surely I'm seeing improvement in speed and a bit relieved. After CCUM I took one week off from running (the longest time off in I don't know how long) and then got busy. The first week back was extremely rough as I tried to push the speed work too much which killed my long runs that weekend. I was worried though. Worried I would be stuck in some permanent state of slowness. The following weeks after that were much better, thank goodness!

The Glacier Ridge 50 miler:










This upcoming training run/race is more prep for the Mohican 100 miler in June. I'm stoked that I'll be running in my birth-state! Corny? Ah well - what can I say? I love P.A.! We are leaving tomorrow - after I sleep in as loooong as possible. SLEEP! Probably the best thing about races is that I actually get to sleep in for one day before the race. I always make a point to take off the day before - so my body can play catch up from not getting sleep any other time. Don't know if it works, but I sure do like sleeping in :-)

The downside to sleeping in tomorrow:
My son is running his first 20 miler tomorrow morning! This will be his longest distance yet, all in prep for his first full marathon in May, the Cleveland Marathon. He had a good 18 miler a couple weeks ago, and a shorter 13 miler last weekend. I joined him part of his 18 miler since he had to run longer than me. (what?!) We ran by the beach and stopped for pics. It was cold - but too pretty to not stop. We never noticed this little spot before, and you bet we'll be running by here again!












IMPOSSIBLE2POSSIBLE UPDATES:
SO much has been going on with Impossible2Possible! The student ambassadors for the upcoming expedition to Bolivia have been chosen, details on the ambassadors can be found here:
http://impossible2possible.com/bolivia/team

The youth and other I2P team members will be running 250 km across the salt flats of Bolivia in Salar de Uyuni- location of the largest salt flats in the world! Congrats to the newest youth ambassadors!

Keep watching for new I2P gear as well. It will be available for purchase soon - so save your $$ people! Lots of new stuff is coming! Ray is working hard on lots of stuff so keep watching. And when I say work hard I mean EXTREMELY hard. If any of you got a text/email/phone call last week he was pretty sick but working through all of it. I think.....yes I KNOW I was probably nagging him way too much to get some rest but he needs it! It's pretty amazing watching I2P keep on growing and growing though. All the hard work is definitely paying off. This month Ray spoke at Engineers Without Borders - then headed off to Rotterdam where he was the keynote speaker at an event (alongside the Secretary General of NATO and the President of the International Red Cross!) Another I2P mastermind, Bob Cox headed down to the Clinton Global Initiative where i2P was a featured organization! Incredible stuff going on! But Ray still needs to rest. ahem. :)











A LITTLE MAGIC CALLED CHROMIUM PICOLINATE
While not really related to anything running, I need to mention this little wonder of a supplement. Chromium is a naturally-occurring mineral, trace amounts of which are found in everyday foods. "So what?" you may ask. Let me explain:














It all started with curiousity. Curiousity in regards to why I feel I need to down a whole 1/2 gallon of orange juice in one sitting. Orange juice is always one of those things at the grocery store that I just had to avoid. Literally, I would chug my orange juice. Chug it without coming up from air. If you picture yourself getting lost in a desert with no water, then FINALLY finding water, this is how I would drink my o.j. Always. So, I became curious. Goggled a phrase, something to the effect of "why do I crave o.j." I fully expected all the websites to say things like "lacking in vitamin c, blah blah, blah" which I do not. I take Vitamin C on a regular basis and have been since I got pneumonia a couple years back. Magically the first thing I saw someone made reference to a lack of Chromium. "hmmm what is this thing they call Chromium?" I wondered. With a little assistance from good friend Google I found out a little more. Lack of Chromium also will cause chocolate cravings. Now I was even more curious. Every single day I would go out of my way to get chocolate. Often, more than once. I love love LOVED chocolate. I wouldn't leave a store without some kind of chocolate in my hand. And if the whole family got chocolate - my husband was sharing his after I had mine. Choco freak I was. So I figured I'd give Chromium Picolinate a shot. For a couple bucks, why not? I was doubtful, as I usually am about supplements. The ones I do use (ex, vitamin c) I honestly can't tell if they work or not. I don't notice a difference, hell I take Iron AND a multi vitamin and am still anemic - haven't been able to give blood for years. But I decided to try Chromium anyway. I was extremely shocked to find it actually is working! I no longer chug my orange juice, and no longer go out of my way to buy chocolate every day. Don't even buy it once a week! I successfully can look at chocolate in the store and not touch. My husband has come home a couple times with chocolate and I have not had any desire to have it. I'm pretty amazed at this stuff. So, my husband's chocolate is safe - and hopefully the size of my butt is not. Now to just work on my cashew craving...














DO YOU KNOW?
I stumbled upon a podcast a couple of weeks ago and am fascinated with the story of Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Mills. Billy Mills gold medal victory is thought of as one of the greatest of Olympic upsets of all time. The gold is not what impresses me, but his determination, drive, and belief that he could and would get there. He is currently a motivational speaker and is co founder of the non profit organization Running Strong for American Indian Youth.

Watch the video!