Legs feeling better!

7 miles on Saturday and a good 6 miles tonight, plus 30 minutes at the gym. Light weights, high reps. Yay!

Trying to figure out a way to work in some light weightlifting into my schedule. I don't exactly have a lot of time, and hopefully, I'll be ramping up my running for Western States...we'll be finding out soon!!

Confirmation of Lottery!

I received confirmation from Western States 100 Mile Run that they have received my application and verified my qualifying run!

"Your entry has been received. Congratulations on completing your qualifying run and getting your application in on time. If you are not an automatic entrant, you will be going through the lottery (http://www.ws100.com/lottery.htm) on Saturday, December 2nd. The lottery takes place in Auburn, CA, in the Placer High School cafeteria near the WS finish line."

I probably will not be able to make it up to Auburn that day to be there for the lottery, but I definitely will be checking the website!

So, will it be 100 Miles through the Sierra Nevada or 300+ miles across the state of Iowa in late June???

This week's running has been non-existent. I've been taking time off to let me legs rest (well and the fact that I've had early practices or meetings this entire week after work!) My legs are feeling pretty good...and with the extra 9 pounds that I have gained, I'm really ready to get back on a training schedule!!

Tomorrow's run will be with the East Bay Frontrunners in Emeryville at 9am sharp! Come on out! ;)

Cold and rainy!

Wow, it was cold and rainy this morning. Luckily it stopped raining in time for my run. 1.5 miles to the run site and then twice around the lake for a total of 7.5 miles. A fairly short "long run", but need to take it easy. Of course I never listen to myself. The last 1/4 mile I ran at about 6min/mi pace. I usually run a 9 min/mi for these long runs.
Had a great time at Six Flags Magic Mountain yesterday. The lines weren't too bad. I love going on rollercoasters! What was interesting is that I didn't feel anxious or nervous at all while waiting in line or while on them. They were a lot of fun though!
I've gotten a few more emails from people back in Iowa (enjoying the snow?). Great to hear from people that I haven't talked to or seen for years!
And a reminder to all of you Class of 1997 classmates, we are having our 10 year reunion this summer (I believe the weekend of July 7th). Mark your calendars! We are collecting everyone's information, so please send me an email: bniess@hotmail.com

Happy Trails!

It's Cold!

Ok, 53 degrees is not freezing or anything, but boy does it feel cold this morning! I've been thinking about my training for summer 2007 lately. I'm thinking I might throw in two-a-days. One run in the morning and one run in the evening. Double weekends: long run on Saturday and long run on Sunday. If anyone has suggestions on how to train to run marathons (or higher) multiple days, I'm all ears! Maybe I should try and get Dean Karnazes' training schedule for when he did 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. I have a feeling that was just the lead up to him running across the United States, which I think he is now in the process of doing.

His blog: http://enduranceis.typepad.com/

Today's running: NONE! Johan and I are leaving this evening for Los Angeles. We are going to Six Flag's Magic Mountain tomorrow. Woo Hoo! I love rollercoasters!
I'll be running Saturday with the East Bay Frontrunners around Lake Merritt. If you are in the area, come on out! It's a lot of fun and you don't even have to run, the last part of the name (which I leave out sometimes) is "and Walkers"!

Do I do anything else besides running...

Of course! I love to hike. This is at North Point near Mt. Diablo. It's about a 20 minute drive from my house. Mt. Diablo is a great place to hike. Johan and I came up here a couple of weeks ago. I keep promising him to go for more hikes, but after running 20+ miles in the morning, I'm sometimes a little tired by the afternoon!

Running updates & the Newspaper

Did the 23 mile run with the NAMTP guys on Saturday. That was a lot of fun. It was great to see everyone again. Though, it might have been a little soon to do that much that quickly. My IT Band has been acting up lately, causing some knee pain. More work on the foam roller though and I should be just fine.
Since I made a promise to myself to listen to my body instead of just push through it, I've lightened up on my running. I've been running Tuesdays and Thursdays (about 6 miles each time) and then Saturday around 8-10 miles. Not until my legs start feeling better will I kick it up again. I also didn't run the Helen Klein 50 mile on the 4th. I was not very happy that entire weekend, knowing that I didn't run that race. Oh well, this is only my first year of running in races, so I lessons learned.
Last night, I did manage to make it 3 times around the lake (9 miles). I took it nice and slow and felt pretty good afterwards.

Something exciting, I made my hometown newspaper! http://www.mcpress.com/articles/2006/11/08/sports/sports02.txt

While there are a couple of mistakes (I'm planning on running a 100 miler in 2007 and I live in Oakland), I think it was well written. It's been almost 10 years since my name has been in that paper. So those of you that clicked on the link from the article, Hello! Welcome to my blog and leave me a comment.

Happy (soggy) trails!
Brad