running update, part i of ii.

so, i've been kinda obsessed with running lately.

[aside]
ok...if you know me, you know that's not particularly surprising news. i can get a little (the operative word here) ocd with things i'm super intrigued by. i can't help it. i'm an all-or-nothing kinda girl, who's learning to navigate the grey.

[back to the topic]
so at the start of this year, i started gathering ingredients for the most delicious stew. i gave myself 5 years to make it because i knew it would take a while. i started looking for rare ingredients like passion, love, courage, fortitude, bravery and the like, because the stew i'm going to cook up is an ultramarathon. i said it. o yes, i did. ultramarathon. (see definition below)

i'm surprised that the desire to run one has manifested so quickly, even given my extended timeline of 5 years! 6 months from giving myself permission to genuinely start thinking about it, i'm convinced i will set out to do run a 50k this fall and hopefully a 50m by mid-2011.

my inspiration has stemmed largely from reading born to run and ultramarathon man this past month. utterly engrossed, i could not put the books down. (i even have a pic with the author of ultramarathon man, dean karnazes, at the start of the relay.)

[the inception]
you might be wondering where the heck did the idea of running an ultra even come into place. well....i remember being set up on a blind date a while back, after i had met charlie engle. at the time, i was completely captivated by running, having had literally converted from hating it.

so this guy (let's call him pdx for fun b/c he looked like a poster child for men from portland: you know...white, flannel shirt, northface outerwear, scruffy face, wool driving cap, drinks lots of coffee, loves red wine, & drives a suburu) was a runner, training for a 50-miler at the time. the morning i met him, i had a run a dozen miles or so and thought that was a lot. well, that same morning, he had run a marathon! - as a mere training run.

part of me was stunned by his level of training and commitment. (alright alright, i was wholly impressed!) but beside that point, that night a seed was planted deep down inside. if this normal guy could run 50 miles, could i?

[back to the present]
well, that seed's been underground, diligently growing all this time. and now, it's sprouting something unexpected and delightful. i am committed. determined. focused. confident. & enthralled. (not to mention....scared shitless.)

this weekend, i ran just over 26 miles. not because i'm training for anything but because i felt it brewing inside of me. my body, mind, spirit wanted it bad and i was willing to go there. the crazy thing is that i can't wait to do it again. i want to get lost on trails, running with all of my heart pushing my whole self in ways i haven't before. i can imagine how challenging and satisfying it will be & i'm thrilled by the possibility.

today i read about this woman Krissy Moehl, running for 7 hours to finish a trail with friends and without hesitation, the first thought out of my head was, "wow, i want to do that too!"this is where i'm at.

i've been doing a lot of research to map out what the next few months might look like and have learned something quite interesting....not by the download of information, but by a big omission on practically every major ultra website. there are almost no asian-american women ultra runners who are widely represented in the space. as far as i can tell, the ultra world is dominated by white men and women. i'm saddened by that, and curious as to what's going on here. i'll have to do some more investigating. more to come on that topic in part ii of my running update.

thanks for catching up and reading about my new adventure.

xo
-liz

ps. needless to say, it didn't work out with pdx. (for you curious folk.) ; )


[definition]
an ultramarathon. defined as anything beyond 26.2, the ultrarunner community doesn't really consider a 50K (~31 miles, for example) as an ultra. the 50-miler is where it's at.