How fun to train!

I almost forgotten it!

I am rolling out for 8 miles at 4:30 in the morning, adding 4 miles on trails 2 afternoons and 6 miles at night twice while Stephen is in his new classes - he joined boxing team (by the way, what a workout! 2 hrs of sweat pumping non-stop, this can make a man out of anybody!). My abs routine is on track, and I actually can see the muscle peaking - I lost 3 lbs so far. It is nice to also feel the muscle tone return to my legs, and the last couple of weeks of goings to the gym are progressing. I even changed my cross-training routine today there, inspired by Bob's description of Elliptical.

The schedule for 2007 is finalized - granted, things can still change, but that's the plan. I went with Zane Grey - the good thing is that the course will be run in opposite direction, so it will be like new race, no time to beat, interesting and fresh (Angie, get ready, girl! You are a champ in crewing!) - and Silver State - by some good suggestions that it will make me cry, and I love to cry! Tough is what I am looking for, not blessed with speed. Leona/Quicksilver will move to 2008.

Bighorn shapes up to be a fun-est event! Besides Theresa and Rick for sure, there is Ashley Idema - in case you are not familiar with names, this girl just rocked AC100, taking 1st in 23 and change on her first try at a 100! Not only Theresa and I are hoping to squeak under CR (I don't really know what Theresa's plan is, I just know what she is capable of!), with Ashley Bighorn will never be the same! Theresa is organizing a "girl’s training run" later in spring, hosting a few of us in Boise, ID. These ladies sure push my limits; I better train to even run a training run together with them!

Grand Teton also took a vote, and it was easy once I considered all the positives of it vs negatives of Bear. I would like to do it as a family trip - what an amazing time we had there past summer, we need a repeat of the National Park's adventures! And I am looking forward seeing Lisa S-B and Jay and little girls and Colleen again! Fred Mountain, here I come!

I had lunch the other day with a good friend of mine Greg Pressler, who is an editor for NorthWest CitySport magazine and a great athlete/bike race announcer/writer. He spilled some beans on his next year’s hopes, what I can’t discuss; just really want it to happen for him! He awoke my interest in it as well…hmm, another year though

On another exciting note, I was invited to join a team of ORRC and Monika Gold to co-RD a PCT 50/50 race in Mt. Hood area. O-oh, that’s new for me, how cool! Now I am not sure if I can run it, but that's OK, I'll get all the fun for everybody else combined:) One of my job requirements is to measure the course, so I'll get to run the beautiful trails anyway.

Seems that Alex finally passed his Focus seminar (on his 3rd try), and it gives some kind of closure. 2 more weeks till we see our precious baby! This Saturday is his sweet 16 and Stephen's 11th birthday - yep, I gave birth to my boys on the same day, and no, it wasn't planned, Alex was a week early and Stephen was 10 days late, he just waited to get out as a present:) We'll have a few kids over, and on Sunday will pack the rest of the belongings to start moving some boxes on Tuesday and big stuff on following Saturday. Even work is going well these days, what almost scares me.

Next week the rain season will move back in again, and I am frantically looking for a cheap treadmill for my home gym. It's on my Russian Santa's list (for New Year's). Good for hill repeats and speed work, as well as tempo runs - otherwise, with no fast training partner I tend to slow down without even noticing it.

Going longer this weekend...well, considering a break, 15 miles is a "long run"! Yee-haa!