2012 Goals Or A Midlife Crisis - We Shall See

So I started writing a post just after New Year's on the goals that I wanted to accomplish this year, but the more I got into it, the more I wondered if I was crazy. I started thinking I was going through a mid-life crisis or something, most guys want a nice new sports car or a Harley, me on the other hand I want to run a 72 hour timed race in December (note it is in Arizona so getting away from the snow would be cool), with a goal of running at least a 150 miles over the 3 days. Could it be a bit of a stretch, maybe, but I have been inspired more and more by the writing antics of some of my favorite bloggers including Vanessa, who wrote about blog here not listening to the experts to try things for yourself, and Jason who is currently writing a book about Ultra Marathon Running with a cool blog that will revolve around the process as he progresses (what a great idea). Further to this Jason has another great blog on the subject (and it can relate to many areas of life), see here . So currently I am trying to figure out how I can accomplish the lofty goal of taking part in "Across the Years", and not fall flat on my face. Considering that I have only been really running for a little over 2 years at this point, why can't I run 150 plus miles over 3 days in the desert?

I am starting to think this might be more achievable than my other brainfart of a goal that I set in motion in November, running an Ironman next year. The running part, not concerned about, the biking, yeah if I focus I can definitely train for that, the swimming on the other hand. I thought I was progressing nicely over the last couple of months, I was able to get an additional pool length into my swim almost every couple of weeks, that was until they did the unspeakable. They dropped the floor of the pool, yeah you heard me, for the first number of weeks I have been able to touch the bottom of the pool in a emergency (for example a leg cramp) not that I have used that safety blanket but it was good knowing it was there. Well I arrived at the pool this week to the sight (or no sight) of not being able to see the pool bottom. Crap, here I thought I was progressing with my little phobia of deep water, well that went down the drain so to speak. Even though the pool was only 8 feet deep, that is a LOT taller than I am, so all those fears suddenly reared their ugly little heads once again. Can I tell you I don't like this feeling, seriously, I have no issue running barefoot on anything (gravel, snow, ice, glass, whatever) but put me near deep water and it spooks the hell out of me. But further to my comments above, I am not going to let my fears win, I decided I would make the plunge and jump in, now I will admit I did put on a floatation belt (it was kind of funny to see a grown man full of tattoos putting a floatation belt on, the tough guy that I am), one step at a time, albeit a small step, it is a lot further than I have gotten in 40 years. So I stuck to my guns and swam for 30 minutes in water that there was no way I would of gotten into last year. So my Ironman goal lives on, and I am not going to give up on it, although next year might be a bit of a stretch, I will continue to work at the swimming and hopefully break the fear in lots of little itsy bitty pieces.

Anyway back to goals for 2012, Nicole and I have a big May coming up, first there is the Winnipeg Police Half Marathon (it so happens to fall on International Barefoot Running Day, going to be planning some interesting stuff for that one) on May 6th. Following up on the 12th with the 2nd Attempt of the Inaugural Manitoba Trail Marathon and 50km (we are running the 50) which I know Duane and his crew are going the extra mile to make it into a fantastic event. Lastly on May 27 we are heading south of the border to run the Med City Marathon in Rochester, MN. This one is going to really cool because there are a lot of people I am looking forward to meeting who are also running that day including Vanessa, Shacky, MGBG, Katie, Dama and I am sure a few other surprise runners that will be showing up. This is going to turn into a Barefoot Running Society meetup and I expect it to be a complete blast, all that barefooting power unleashed on the City of Rochester they will not know what hit them.

So with all this in mind and all the miles my bare feet are expecting to partake in this year. I decided I should sign up for a Marathon clinic, figuring it should motivate me to get a few extra miles in during the weeks leading up to May. So I have been running with City Park, doing some intervals, tempo runs, long runs and core workouts to hopefully get me where I need to be. Between this and Carolyn taking me through the paces at the gym, I think it will be a good year.

I am not looking to far beyond May at this point, but the plan is to throw a 50 miler in there sometime this summer and if the swimming keeps progressing and the fears subside maybe even a 'Try an Tri'.

All I can say is, No mid-life crisis here and who needs a sports car anyway, when my two feet can carry me where ever I want to go, and at this point they are itching to go far.