57.25%

I loves me some statistics! And look, I found another statistic to play with.

22.5/39.3 = 57.25

As in 22.5 miles ran this past weekend (7.5 on Friday and 15 on Saturday) and 39.3 for the distance of the Goofy Challenge in January. It sure seemed like a lot of miles but as I was endlessly looping the one mile snow and ice covered trail at the Civic Center park in Traverse City, MI, I was working through some long division to come up with the actual percentage. (Really, I came up with 57.4 but who's counting?).

Only 57 and a quarter percent? I was pretty whipped by the end on Saturday. This body isn't used to running on consecutive days. And I still need to go another 42%, or 16.8 miles, in just under 7 weeks???

I'm officially slightly concerned that this is going to turn into another 10 mile walk to the finish. However, the next 3-4 weeks are crucial mileage building weeks. I should feel a lot more comfortable come Christmas. I'll peak out my training for this on Dec. 23rd with a consecutive day runs of 10 & 20 miles (or 76.3% of the total race distance for you fellow statistic geeks out there). The other quarter of this "challenge" will come through sweat and tears (but hopefully not blood) on the day of the race(s).

Traverse City had a nice round of driving snow and ice over the Turkey Day weekend. Both runs were in the 27 degree range with about an inch of fresh snow covering a layer of thin ice on my path. This caused a few slip, sliding saves to prevent a crash to the ground. It also forced me to slow up a bit. I averaged around 7:30/mile on Friday and 7:45 on Saturday. And very little leg discomfort afterwards (yes, I know you are still there cursed hamstring).

The plan this weekend is for 24 total miles (61.07%) split 8 and 16 as well as a short run during the week.

I do enjoy running in the winter. It's quiet. It's cool. It's usually real relaxing. I could do without the cool breezes that turn my sweat into tiny little icicles jabbing me all over though. Besides that, what fun!

Hey, look at that! I'm 7 weeks through my 14 week training plan for this race.

50%.

Happy trails.