My Personal Challenge

M and I go daily to the gym at 5:00 a.m. and run. I had grown lazy, and due to a injured knee used it as an excuse to do very little, while eating more than normal for me. In early June I decided my butt had got to big and vowed to start eating better and doing more at the gym. As such I began doing an hour each morning on the treadmill and increased the incline every so often.

I should also say M and I are competitive with each other and he almost always out does me. But the drive to out do him also pushed me on. Then last week I heard of a run, the rim to rim rum. Starting at the north rim of the Grand Canyon, your go down, then across the bottom of the canyon and back up the south rim. It is a grand total of 27.5 miles. For some reason I have decided this is something I want to do.

I have done the research, the best times to go are September-October and March-April. It is a given there is no way I will be ready to do it in a few weeks so I have decided on April, 2013, I am going to tackle the run.

With that said, I have ramped up the workouts even more. I was doing an hour to 90 minutes a day with a goal of 5 miles per day. Now, I am waking an hour earlier and doing 90 minutes to 2 hours and will increase the time every three to four weeks. Goal is 10 miles each morning, with the weekends being double that since I will have more time.

I have also gone on a high protein diet and eating every two hours. I must say this diet is not so much a diet because I am actually eating more than I have in years, but it is mostly fresh fruits and vegetables. So, far its not to bad.

Yesterday I got two hours in for a total of 6.51 miles with the first 90 minutes at an 8% incline and the last half hour at a 2% decline since I will have to go down the north rim and back up the south. This morning I only got 4 miles at an 8% incline because my body HURTS!!

However, tomorrow it is back to waking at 4 a.m. to ensure I have the time to put in 2 hours and still shower and make it to work on time. My goal is to get the incline up to 15% since that is around the incline I will have to travel up the south rim.

As a bonus since I have started this work out and the new diet two days ago I seem to be losing a pound a day. I do not expect that rapid weight loss to continue but it is an added bonus.

I was also thinking today, my brother and I were always competitive with each other and the rim to rim would be up his alley to beat his little sister. I am sure when the time comes and I am running across the Grand Canyon I will miss him even more than I still do, but I can’t help but think in some small way he will be running with me, urging me on, and taunting me to not give up when needed.

Either way it should be fun, if the training doesn’t kill me. The incline has my butt sore (laughs), working muscles that are not used to it My feet hurt (I need new running shoes) and my legs hurt. I think I am going to die trying *laughs*

I will keep you updated on my progress towards completing the rim to rim run..

L