I’ve been traveling so much for work lately that I haven’t been keeping up with the physical preparations needed for a thru-hike. Since I postponed the hike, I saw that as an opportunity to really get in shape since I’ve been pretty lazy up until now. To that end, I signed up for a couple of events to train for this year as checkpoints.

My first event, the Out and Back Party Run, was this weekend. In addition to all the work travel and overtime, I got really sick a month ago and haven’t been able to shake off a bad cough since then, so there was another reason to not run on hotel treadmills (besides being exhausted all the time and the fact that they are excruciatingly boring). I was able to finish the four mile run although the time wasn’t what I’d hoped for. I was running with Amy, Megan, and Erin, although everyone was running at their own pace. Erin and I decided to stick together for motivation and the first mile seemed to go by very fast. My chest was hurting strangely though and I decided to walk a little bit in the second mile. I told Erin to keep going since she was training for the ten mile Broad Street Run the next weekend. After I walked for a minute the pain went away so I was back to running again, although now that I was on my own, headphone-less to boot, I had no motivation and ended up walking a little bit in the third mile too, more out of boredom than need. I finished strong by running the last mile though, despite the short uphill section at the end (not cool). My overall time was 48:30, but I at least finished it, and I guess that’s not too bad for not training much. My goal this year is to have a sustained ten minute mile, say six miles in an hour. Since my current pace is five miles in an hour, that shouldn’t be too hard. I can run at a six mile per hour pace, but only for two miles. I need to get the pace and endurance together.

I really need to get moving because I’ve also signed up for the Tri-State Tough Mudder in October. It’s a twelve mile military style obstacle course that has some pretty intense obstacles. Blair did it last year and put together a fun team this year, mostly people we grew up with. You’re not running the whole time but you do need to be able to run long distances. I also need to work out the rest of my body besides just running. I haven’t been able to get to many yoga classes since I’m never home, and I don’t feel quite comfortable doing a lot of it on my own yet. I need to figure out some other things I can do in hotel rooms. The obstacle that scares me the most in the event is not really related to physical fitness at all though – the Arctic Enema. That one is all about mental strength for me and I might need a push to get going.