Off and Running

May 29^th, 2010:  (please note this entry precedes gaining approval from my doctor)

Today I officially began training for Le Grand Raid.  My program will be devoted to endurance and speed is no concern.  You get sixty hours to complete Le Grand Raid and with my disease I aim to focus on crossing the finish line without any fixation upon how quickly I get there.  For the past ten years or so my running has shamefully averaged about two runs per week – one three mile loop and one four mile loop.  I’d like to think I pace out at 9:30 minutes per mile but haven’t timed myself in eons.

The game plan is to start with a five mile run this weekend and add a half mile each week until I get up to twenty.  I will aim for a ten minute pace up to ten miles and reduce to twelve minute miles afterwards.  Knowing very little about training for an ultra-marathon, this might be an absurd routine, but it gets me started.

So I took off today and knocked off the first mile in nine minutes, proceeding according to plan.  After the first mile my route was unfamiliar and since I wasn’t sure of the distance I didn’t check my watch again, thinking I would just get the overall time once I got back home and hope it was under fifty minutes.  Naturally my neighbors were outside working in their yard and I stopped to talk to them, so no idea if I satisfied my first target or not, but I’m off and running!