The Calm

My training plan this week called for a reduction in miles. I certainly relished the downtime. It gave me a great chance to relax a bit and get ready for a big six week push. We spent the weekend out in Palm Springs and it offered the opportunity to run in the heat. It is astonishing how the dry hot air takes it out of you. I had a nice run with a good buddy John Markham on Saturday. I am working on getting John to commit to run the Chile version of the Racing the Planet series next year. Next week picks up where the previous week left off. I will have a long run of 22 miles followed by a 18 mile run the next day. I am looking forward to the ramp up as I think it will prepare me for performing well in the race. More to come....

After the party...

The party is over, the funds have been pledged, now I've got to go do this thing. I had obviously always planned on running the race. There was never a doubt in my mind otherwise I certainly would not have been running 20 mile days. However, it just now seems a whole lot more real, whole lot closer, and quite frankly a whole lot longer.

I am running 150 miles across the Gobi Desert in order to raise awareness and funds for the outstanding organization Room to Read (roomtoread.org). The race (racingtheplanet.com) begins June 17th in Kashgar, China. I am incredibly excited about the race and so overwhelmed by the support of the community here in Santa Barbara. The fundraiser on friday night raised $100,000 for Room to Read. That is enough money to build 6 new schools. Schools that will provide education to children who previously did not have access to any primary or secondary schools and would have spent a lifetime illiterate and bound to poverty.

I will chronicle my training and my experiences in the days leading up to the race.