My plan today was to run/hike for 8 hours. Well – I only had 6.5 hours in me. Ran the downhills and hiked the uphills. I ran some ups when I could, but it was a good opportunity for me to practice my hiking skills.

Here’s my elevation map for today – talk about blazing some trails. I had no idea how far I was going or what the terrain was going to be. I looked at the Ridge to Rivers map for Shaffer Butte, and I picked a couple of trails. Youch! I went up about 850 feet in my first mile. But it was about 630 am, and it was still a nice and cool 70 degrees. That was fun. Next 3 miles, I added about 300 more feet each mile. What a way to start the day!

See that “V” around mile 4? That trail was named “The Tempest” so I had to check it out. But when it kept going down, down, down…I decided that I would save it for another day. So I only went down about 1/2 mile, then straight back up for a 350 foot climb in 1/2 mile. Geez – think if I had kept going down. Yikes.

After I came down off that side of the mountain, I went over to the Nordic ski lodge where I planned to run some of the cross-country ski trails. Here’s a tip: It was a lot longer than it looked like on the map. Ended up being ~13 miles with the first half of that going down. Aren’t you supposed to finish on the downhill, not the uphill? Who knew?

Then I got turned around the last hour, and I ran out of water. That was a bummer. And it had climbed to almost 90 degrees by that time… and I had more sun by that time – but it was 10 degrees cooler on the mountain than in the city, so that was a plus. I was pretty tired by the time I finally found the lodge (and my car), but I had a frozen bandana (yes a bandana not a banana) in a baggie in my cooler – It had thawed out, but it was still cold and wet – felt so good on my face and neck – ah, what a relief.  I rehydrated when I got to the car and drove home with my cold bandana around my neck.

When I realized I was a little off course at the end…and that I would probably not be going 8 hours today, I thought about something I read a couple of nights ago in Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. At the time, I couldn’t remember exactly, but he says that running is like “the game of life – You never know how hard it will be. You never know when it will end. You can’t control it. You can only adjust.”

I made a few adjustments today, and everything turned out just fine. What a terrific day.

This has been a week of many inspirations:

• My friend Lori reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro
• Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States
• Millions of people from every race and culture gathered together in Washington D.C. in a spirit of hope
• I spoke with a woman who went from weighing 527 pounds to running marathons
• I saw a lone bald eagle flying along the Boise River this morning

Always on the lookout, I find inspiration everyday in extraordinary people and experiences. It can be something as heroic as losing over 350 pounds or as simple as seeing an eagle.

I had an extraordinary run this morning. The run itself was a regular weekday progression run, but I came up with an idea while running that could potentially have a profound impact on myself and others. (More on that later.)

In any case, if we look for and expect good things to happen, they will. So be on the lookout for inspiration, and – guaranteed – you WILL BE inspired!

While we were sleeping peacefully in our warm beds, the Mt Kilimanjaro trekkers were making their way to the Mountain Top inch by inch. Here are the two latest reports from Didi:

“Meredith called this morning (Monday).  The phone is still working.  They are on the Shira plateau.  Everyone is doing fine, no sickness at all.  Jenny & Cindy, Laurie wants her family to know she is feeling great at 13,000 feet, and the expedition team is wonderful.  Meredith said they were managing to keep clean, but it is getting colder and that will be more difficult to do.  The weather has been good for trekking.  I told Meredith to call on Wednesday and then again on Saturday to try and conserve battery power.  That stair climbing in Chicago seems to have helped them all.

“Meredith called this morning (Wednesday), and we talked for about 30 seconds. We are trying to conserve battery power.  Hope it lasts for a call on Saturday after they summit!! Today was the day they scrambled up the steep “Barranco Wall” and they all made it.  Everyone from the Chicago group is still feeling fine and doing great.  Last night a couple of older guys from Oregon had altitude sickness and had to head back down the mountain.  Our girls are doing great though.  Meredith will not even try and call the next couple of days.  Between low battery and cloud cover it isn’t worth the chance.  Let’s hope we hear from them on Saturday.”

I actually have 2 updates on the Kilimanjaro hikers. Didi writes:

“I heard from Meredith about 5:30am central time.  They transported the group to their base camp.  Meredith was impressed with the tents, they have wooden floors!!!  I’m not sure if the floors go with them up the mountain.  They were getting ready to go for a two hour hike to warm up and stretch out the legs.  Meredith said they were being spoiled.  They deserve it.  Today, they even get to take showers.  Apparently there are two groups of 12 going and 45 porters.  I believe they are in good hands. According to Meredith, you can see Mt. Kilimanjaro off in the distance, far away in the clouds.  It sounds pretty awesome.

“Heard from the trekkers this morning.  All is well.  Today was a perfect weather hiking day but they expect it to start getting colder.  I think Meredith said they took a ‘shower’ today.  The meals are gourmet so they are eating and storing up energy.  Everyone is doing really  well.  Yesterday, they saw monkeys in the rain forest.  The mountain seems a liitle closer but also  higher.  The battery on the satellite phone is running low (rather dissapointing) so I’m not sure how much longer we will hear from the group.”

New Year. New Challenges. New Goals.

I always hear Zig Ziglar in my head when I think of goals: “You gotta have a goal.” Goals give us direction. Goals give us something to strive for. Goals motivate us. Reaching a goal is great, but working towards the goal is even better.

Several years ago, my friend Roz gave me a framed print which is probably one of my favorite prints I’ve ever had. It is a drawing by Sybil Shane, an artist who explores the extraordinary found within the ordinary. The title is “Toward the Mountain Top Inch by Inch.” I keep it in a visible spot where I can look at it everyday. And I’m reminded that things worth achieving take time and patience.

I thought of another friend today as I looked at the print. My friend Lori is in Africa right now climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. (more…)

A few days ago, I wrote a post about my back-to-back 20-mile runs and climbing the hills on the 2nd 20. Today, I have another “hill” post. If it seems like I’m obsessed with hills, maybe I am, just a little. I’m just so excited to be able to run hills!

When I decided to take on my ultrarunning adventures, one of my primary goals was to become a good hill runner. (more…)

Frank A. Clark said, “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”

Like most things in life, there are peaks and valleys. And, if we can just weather the valleys, we’ll make it to the summit. As I embark on my ultrarunning series, I like to keep this in mind.

My first race in the series is coming up on November 15 – a 50K (31 miles) in Stinson Beach, California. It is a trail run on a challenging course along the Pacific coast. Throughout my running history, I have not been a trail runner. Living in Chicago for mosts of my running life has not afforded me the opportunity to run on trails. A gorgeous lakefront yes, but trails no. And, since the marathons I’ve run have been road races, even in the past year in Boise, I’ve trained mostly on asphalt running paths.

New adventures bring new challenges. Most ultramarathons are run on trails – trails with lots of hills. So, that is my new challenge. Last weekend, I ran the Royal Victoria Marathon in Victoria, Canada – on roads. Most of my training was on roads for this race; however, for the past couple of months, I have been introducing trails up to about 6 miles. And, with a trail run coming up in a few weeks, I have been putting in short trail runs on a regular basis.

Yesterday, I ran 10 miles in the hills on trails, my longest trail run to date. It was challenging to say the least. But remembering that if I could just get through the rough patches, I would make it to the summit, I succeeded and felt great afterwards. Notice I said, “afterwards.” There were patches where I didn’t feel so great during the run. But I am getting better every time I go out there.

There were so many highlights of that run, but one of the bonuses of running that particular path was seeing the gorgeous fall leaves. I ran on a trail I haven’t run before, and I thought about all the people who will never see the beauty I saw yesterday – either because they are unable to hike those trails or they are unwilling. I ran along the top of a ridge above a gulch. Besides seeing for miles in every direction – which was so cool – I saw the trees below in the gulch. Every shade of color you can imagine – it looked like the photographs you see on travel brochures beckoning travelers to come see the fall colors. The beauty took my breath away (or it could have been the uphill running and the altitude).

I am so fortunate to be able to run in the first place, but doubly fortunate to have the foothills and trails to run on here in Idaho.

Yesterday, I literally experienced the peaks and valleys in my running. And, everyday we experience figurative peaks and valleys. And, as we weather both the literal and figurative valleys, we get stronger everyday. I’m excited about taking on new physical and mental challenges, and I’m already enjoying the process.

A huge piece of competing in any type of event is the mental component. It’s one thing to embrace a physical challenge: we set goals, train, we eat right, and come race day, we are hopefully at our peak performance.

But how do we prepare mentally for what may await us on race morning? (more…)

As I sit here on the South Shore Electric Line train headed to East Chicago, Indiana, I am thinking about how we are always traveling. We often seem to be “on our way” to some place – the “place” not always being a physical destination.

We might be traveling to a position in our company, to a happier state of mind, to a goal that we have set for ourselves. Or we might be traveling, in fact, to another physical location – as I am today, to Indiana and then on to Benton Harbor, Michigan.

I am reminded of a story Wayne Dyer tells (more…)

A couple of days ago, I was talking to someone who told me that he wants to start running, but he just doesn’t have the time. So, after talking for a little while, we finally determined that it’s not really that he doesn’t have enough time – because we found the time – rather, it’s that he just doesn’t know how to get started and stay with it. Every time he gets started, he “falls off the wagon” and ends up stopping. Saying there’s not enough time is just an excuse.

So, how do you get started and stick with it? Here are a few tips: (more…)