4 weeks

Today is 4 weeks completed toward my 100 mile race goal. I suppose my progress is really a matter of perspective since it seems to hurt just as much when I run as in the beginning. Sitting back a bit and really looking though I can see that my stride has become more confident and I don't actually think any longer that I will experience cardiac arrest after a workout.

It has really helped to spend my workouts on the track now instead of the pavement and I've been able to adapt my workouts so that I mix quick paced walking with my running. Last couple of days it's been to run two laps and walk a half lap 3 times. I've also started (once so far) doing some long 3-4 hour hikes which use completely different muscles so I'm stiff all over again. My weight is down to around 172 so a 15 pound loss in a month so I'm starting to see a difference there.

One other note; I subscribed to two running magazines, "Marathon and Beyond" and "UltraRunning." Both excellent publications and I would recommend both very highly.