Update December 18th, 2020

I am not going to lie, the past week has been tough for training! I made a purchase of a treadmill so I would not be forced to run in the snow and cold on roads without any street lights and so I can train the half of the week my daughter is with me and I am unable to leave her alone (only 5 year old). I have rediscovered my vehement dislike of running on a treadmill however! It has been extremely difficult to keep myself moving despite how great I am feeling on my run.

I got the boost I needed this week however! Originally I was not planning to launch this site, or the virtual challenge until we got a little closer to the actual events, but I got a little nervous. Kevin had a scare a week and a half ago, fortunately making it through ok, and then my father came down with COVID (still fighting). Both of these situations made me push a little more. I had told both Kevin and my father about my plans, but I wanted to make them "real" for them and me... just in case!

Again, fortunately both are on the mend and home and I was able to launch everything officially for the entire world to see!

Up to this point only a select few individuals had known about the entirety of the project, and I would let a few people I work with know when I was struggling to train to give myself another reason to push. Making it public knowledge however shot me out of a cannon.

One of my biggest struggles lately has been waking up early like I use to, forcing me to workout later in the evening when I am dog tired. This throws off my sleep like crazy. I wake up two hours after falling asleep wide awake and hungry and unable to fall back asleep for and hour or two. By that time over half of my night is gone and I am desperately trying to force myself out of bed on 4 hours of sleep. This has been unsuccessful on too many occasions, and ineffective when I have been able to train.

This morning however I woke up fresh at 4am and got on the treadmill. I was able to work for about an hour at a comfortable pace completing 6 miles and I had the thought that I could go to the gym before work. I realized however that with my school going remote all next week now I had to get a few extra things done as well as pick up my last minute secret Santa gifts.

This is the beauty of training for something that is bigger than you however. There are many folks out there that I have known and have worked with that train for things like just getting in shape, or to be "faster", but a lot of times we get bored or lose sight of our goals when they are for us. Every time I have made a commitment to do something and raise money for a cause that is not about me, and bigger than I am, I find that I push my training harder and am able to succeed at my goal much more efficiently! 

This is one of the reasons I am encouraging people to either sign up for my virtual challenge and do their own independent fundraising, or just do fundraising for a cause without my challenge. The simple fact of pushing yourself to do something good for others will take you to places you have never imagined!

Over the next few weeks I will lay out my full training plan, or at least as much of it as I come up with, and discuss the challenges and successes of my plan. I will be working closely with Charlie Engle author of Running Man and better known for his Running the Sahara documentary. With his support, as well as several other ultra runners from around the country I plan to go from finishing my first half marathon distance run in 2020 to my first double marathons and beyond in 2021. It is a lofty goal, but as I have always been told if you set your goals high the worst thing that can happen is you fail at your goals high! 

I hope this blog will be inspiring to others, give some training ideas, and help to motivate me through this amazing journey that has already filled my life and heart with joy! Thank you all for the moral support I have received already and lets conquer our goals together in 2021!