Big Goal

So I decided that I need a phsical goal to keep me motivated to get back ijn and stay in shape. I may have commited myself a little more than what I can realistically handle. But then again, I like to dream big.

My dad is an ultra marathon runner and has been accepted to the roster for the Hard Rock 100. You should check it out, it is a pretty amazing race. Anyway, he has invited me to pace him on one of the legs and will pay for my ticket out of here, if I train. The portion of the race goes from Ouray to Telluride over Virginius Pass at 13100 feet elevation. I fmy math is correct, that is 5420 feet of UP and 4350 feet of DOWN in 16.1 miles. The race is mostly cross country... so basically, the trail is unmarked and sketchy. To make things more interesting, Dad will be about 1/2 way through the race at 4am the second day when I start this thing! I think he wants to average 2 miles / hr, so I figure that we are looking at a really hard 8-10 hour day. (for a detailed description of this leg of the race go to pages 8-14 here.)

Here is my basic plan of action to prepare for this monster:

Work my way from running 3 flat miles / day to 6 flat miles
1 hour / day of stairmaster working my way up to 45 lbs of aditional resistance
Weight Train 3 days / week, increasing resistance for muscle tone and fat loss
Religiously stick to my high-protein, well-balanced eating program

I figure that it will require 2 -2.5 hours of training six days a week to minimize the ammount of pain this is going to cause, and another week at elevation to acclimitize so I can breathe up there. Right now I am scheduled to leave here on July 7th, so that gives me exactly 8 weeks to get my stuff together. Wish me luck!

PS
I will be in Montrose, CO for a day or so and would love to see anyone close to there. Maybe we could work in a dinner the night of the 7th or something on the 16th after the race. There has to be a good place we can meet. Let me know!