Accomplishments for a simple Wednesday

Last night we had hills training; 5 of them for a wonderful total of 6k of both mental and physical challenge.  

I find it incredibly motivating as our group has a wide range of runners; from first-time half marathoners (like me!!) to seasoned marathoners and everyone in between.  So, when I am slogging up the hill at what feels like a barely moving pace, fighting my brain’s desire to sit on the side walk, it is wonderful when an older runner springs by!  I definitely don’t think I would push myself as hard without those super fit calves and glutes sprinting away from me!  

The group is also wonderful in that those super fit members wait at the top of the hill when they have finished their repeats and actually clap and cheer for everyone as we complete the last one.  It makes you feel like you have accomplished something wonderful on a simple Wednesday evening (which, considering what we did and how fast we have progressed to this level, is actually pretty wonderful)!   This makes me look forward, even more, to the HUGE feeling of accomplishment that we are going to have as we summit Kilimanjaro!  I can’t even begin to imagine how amazing that will feel and am sooo looking forward to it :)   I do wonder though, after Kili, what adventures we will have to take on to get that feeling back!  

96 days to Kilimanjaro ...

I have been talking about starting this blog for a while now and have decided that today is the day!  There are many interesting things that I would like to blog about and have been overwhelmed by all of the possibility ... but I have decided to take it day by day and blog about what is interesting me.   

With this being said, my main initial focus is going to be preparing to climb Kilimanjaro and life's adventures before and after this milestone.  

Source: www.wallhunt.com

I feel like, as with most other things, the Kili deadline is looming up on us faster than we are preparing for.   On July 2nd we leave for Kili and begin our trek on July 6th.  This is not far away ... 96 days to be precise.  Eek!

People ask what we are doing for training ... ummm, well ... Mum and I run with the Running Room (love them!! check out their training programs here:  www.runningroom.com) and I am currently participating in the 1/2 marathon training program for the Ottawa Race Weekend (I'm sure I'll blog about this in later posts).  Other than that though, we haven't even bought our hiking boots yet!!   This is our Easter Wknd goal though ... that and to find somewhere in Ottawa to start our weekend hikes.    This weekend we may need wellington boots instead of hikers, but it will all be part of the training!  My hubby has not yet started any training; I'm not too sure what his plan is.  But dragging him out for weekend hikes is now on our to do list!!

I wonder who the least prepared person to ever summit Kilimanjaro was?  I have heard many tales from all ends of the spectrum, from triathletes who get altitude sickness and don't make it to inactive smokers who do ... it seems almost like a flip of a coin and mostly dependent on one's reaction to the altitude more so than the exercise.   With that being said I read a great post a while ago (I unfortunately can't remember the location) where the author worded it along the lines of: if you don't make it, you want to know that you did everything you could to get there and not have regrets about sitting on the couch in the months leading up to your climb.  I'm thinking that right now I would have some regrets ...so I'm taking this as my new mantra and taking this seriously.  I will make it to the top and if I don't I won't have any regrets!

Source:
www.ewpnet.com/eaimg/kilimanjaro.htm

Another perspective is that great training will make the climb an enjoyable experience versus a grueling physical torture.   I really want it to be enjoyable and I want to be able to take in everything I am seeing instead of focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.  I am sooo looking forward to just day after day of WOW factor.   They have plants that go from freezing at night to +30 temperatures during the day ... WOW.  We get to walk through areas that people refer to as other worldly because of the diverse vegetation ... WOW.  We get to see 100 foot ice cliffs while they still exist ... WOW.   

So, here it begins.   Today, with Running Room, we conveniently have hill training.  I despise and yet love hill training ... the torment of going up the hill is only overshadowed by the sheer joy of completing the torment!

I'm looking forward to publicizing this as it will motivate me to train harder and more consistently.  After all, you will all know what I have or have not done on the road to Kili!