Training

In the past two weeks I've committed to two activities which require training. The first is the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon in San Jose. The second is a 30 mile backpacking expedition. I'm nervous and excited about both.

The half marathon I was invited to register by one of my coworkers. Well, by the end of our Cinco de Mayo party, many of us committed to registering and training for the event! I think it'll be loads of fun and quite challenging, considering I've yet to enter any event. This race will be fun and I'll push myself in ways I never knew existed - especially because I have a lot of training to do, but the race is in October, so I have exactly the right amount of time to build up my mileage. This event is special because they have a band every mile of the race, which will help to keep moving along!

It's raining today and that's great news because I need a recovery day!

The second event I committed to do is the Skyline to Sea hike. It's the last 1% of our country's width and is a very popular hike that goes from Skyline road at Castle Rock State Park all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This is a very special hike that goes up and down a mountain range, intermingled with Redwood trees and other beautiful wildlife. We've talked about doing this hike since we moved to California four years ago.

This will be my first hike carrying a proper backpack and that makes me a tad nervous. I carried a book bag with water, food and clothes at Half Dome last August. This will be much different. Thursday we went to REI to get fit for a backpack. He loaded it up with 30 pounds and I totally thought I was going to topple over! It was pretty funny, but I knew for sure this would be a hard trip.

Hubby told me this week that he tried to talk me out of hiking Half Dome before because he literally thought I couldn't do it. He wasn't trying to be mean as much as helping me prepare physically and mentally. This Skyline to Sea hike he actually thinks I can do! I don't know why, but for a test run yesterday we did an easy 3.8 mile hike at Russian Ridge and I wore his backpack loaded up to a total of 19 pounds.

At first I thought I was going to freak out standing in our kitchen with almost 20 pounds on my back, on a pack with a frame that is too big for me. It was really hard to get comfortable to the point where the weight was all on my hips and not on my shoulders - or the problem with his pack - the weight on my collar bones. Finally I found a place where things felt comfortable - at least for a sub 4 mile hike where he wasn't carrying a thing and I could always bail if it was too much.

Well, I did the hike successfully yesterday with no problems. My collar bones do feel a bit sore today, but I think I could put the pack back on and continue hiking again today. Again, thankfully it's raining, so instead I'll be doing laundry!

I am looking forward to both of these challenges. It's exciting to push yourself to the edge and then step back just a bit so you don't injure yourself and can continue to raise yourselves to new levels. This is going to be an exciting summer of adventure and seeing just how far I can go. Now it's time to study my diet so I can fuel myself properly for all these crazy things I agreed to do! Wish me luck!