I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends!

Hooray to the wonderful people of Fort Abercrombie State Historical
Park for arranging a great 5K in celebration of the 40th anniversary of State Parks in Alaska!
Thanks to Lori (who took the pics!), Kim, Baby Finnigan, James
and my new training buddy MICHELLE who got me through a
challenging course. I came THIS close to not showing up because
of all the OTHER STUFF I needed to do.
Once I pulled into the parking lot and saw the happy vibes I knew
that I'd made the right choice. If Lori hadn't said, "Yes!" on the phone I might
not have gone. I love "The Power of friends and the power of YES!"~

THANKS SO MUCH to
KMXT Talk of the Rock guests:
Kodiak Cross-Country Coach
Marcus Dunbar,
Alaskan Legend Lindsay Knight and our newest Yoga teacher,
Pauline Hsieh!

Listen in to their conversation about training, fitness and that mind, body, spirit thing on http://www.kmxt.org/
(TOTR: Inspiration & Perspiration!)

5K Fun Run at Fort Abercrombie Sunday, July 18th at 1:oo p.m.
Run the beautiful trails and help celebrate 40 years of Alaska's State Parks~
Great events going on all weekend!

Sign up for the run at 12:30 at the main parking area.
$10 fee goes to support Friends of Ft. Abercrombie. 12 years and under are free!

I've been running the Gertrude Lake trail every day for 5 days now! I run up the hills and down the hills and shuffle along in between, balancing on the occasional fallen tree for fun.
A big thanks to the Wild Things for always saying, "Yes! Let's Go!" Starting to feel my inner runner emerge!
Tomorrow is "arms" day at the Kodiak Athletic Club!

HAVE YOU CIRCLED YOUR CALENDAR FOR KMXT'S RUN THE ROCK MARATHON, HALF-MARATHON OR 5K? Its October 9th and there are 86 training days left!

Don't Miss Tuesday's TALK of the ROCK w/ Training Experts!

There are 11 and a half weeks left to train for KMXT’s Run the Rock 5K, half-marathon and marathon!

Be sure to join us for

Talk of the Rock Tuesday at 12:30

for a

Panel discussion about

running, training, fitness

and that “mind-body-spirit thing.”

Diana's Guests include Kodiak X-Country Coach Marcus Dunbar

"Alaskan Legend" Lindsay Knight,

The Professor and MaryAnn...

On KMXT 100.1 FM Immediately following The KMXT Mid-Day Report

Where The Wild Things Are...

Ok, so even though I may be the LAST PERSON ON THE PLANET to know this..

....my kids are some of the best fitness buddies a gal could have. On Thursday O put me thru the paces with his playground obstacle course. On Saturday and Sunday O, M and I moved for a solid hour each day up and down the hills and around the winding paths of the magical forest of Fort Abercrombie State Historic Park. Their energy and enthusiasum helped move me along the path as I focused on their lightening-fast,wiggling frames up ahead of me. Honestly, I really needed them. I had taken a nose-dive on Sunday because I finally came to grips with just how far out of shape I had fallen over the past 24 years. I blinked my eyes and all that time had passed without me realizing how... well, whatever... kids are so happy that you want to play with them that they don't care about all of that stuff. When I'm following their lead there isn't time to think about the past. Next week they'll be at camp so I won't have them to inspire me (don't worry, I still have the torture crew waiting for me at the Kodiak Athletic Cub). Until next weekend I'll have to move myself around the trails without the Wild Things running up ahead of me. I've gotta do it... if I want to smoke O's obstacle course.

Are you and your wild things going to "RUN the ROCK?" on Saturday, Oct. 9 in Kodiak, Alaska? "Skipping, Strolling, Jumping, Leaping, Dancing THE ROCK" is ok too!

Online Registration Coming Soon!

Max and The Rookie~
By the way, we earned those fabulous shirts
at the 2009 Run the Rock~







Circle your calendar today for
KMXT's 4th Annual
RUN THE ROCK
marathon
half-marathon & 5K
on October 9, 2010!

Registration forms are available
at the KMXT studios 620 Egan Way
Also, on-line registration available soon at http://www.kmxt.org/

Pick a race & talk your pals
into training with you!

One of my heros from last year's race ran the half-marathon and then pushed a stroller for the 5K! (she still whooped me...)

Race fee includes: pre-race spaghetti dinner, fabulous t-shirt, after race chow, runner's high and that warm glow you get from supporting Kodiak's public radio station!

Save the Date! Call your buddies! Start your training! Sign-up soon!

92 Training Days Left 'til KMXT'S RUN THE ROCK!

O.T. is ready to start training for
KMXT's RUN THE ROCK, are you?

94 Training Days Left 'til KMXT'S RUN THE ROCK!

I'm really looking forward to posting an "after" picture~

Success at the gym is determined by "showing up."
Success with a walk/jog/run program involves tying your shoes and going out the door. I went out the door today and I'm glad.
After my run I attempted to conduct a post-mortem analysis of the experience with a certain 12 year old athlete who lives with me.

"How far did you go?"
"Up Sawmill Circle to the first house."
"You went that far?"
"Yes!"(I said proudly)

Then I started to launch into a monologue about everything I thought and experienced during the run including the fact that I hate for people to see me on the road.

"You don't know them."
(hmmm, true enough but still....)

I attempted to continue my monologue:

"For me, it's just as much mental as it is physical...."
"MENTAL?" , the 12 year old athlete asked incredulously,
"What's mental about it? You just run."

(My speechless blank expression goes here...)

Contemplating the Mysteries of Muscle Memory

Five days without running makes one weak. har dee har har...
Seriously, a "run" has to happen tonight and it will. Someday I'll take the quotation marks off "run." For now "run" is a euphemism for walk/shuffle.

One cool thing to report is that over the weekend I woke up with the urge to lift weights and to run.
I then laid back down until the urge passed. Actually, I did go to the Athletic club where I read the "closed on 4th of July" sign on the door. I was too lazy to walk up the billion stairs and so I mis-read the second half of the sign and thought the KAC was going to be closed Monday as well. Good thing today is a new day.

We'll say it was the holiday that confused me but I bolted up in bed this morning when I saw that I had missed both of my alarms, that it was 7 o'clock and that I was supposed to be training with Alaskan Body Building Legend Lindsay Knight. DOH!
So not cool to arrive a half-hour late. I was appropriately punished.
Note to self: Half-hour EARLY from now on, hit the treadmill until 7 a.m.appointment.

Ok, about those muscle memories...
I don't know the physiology of muscle memory but I know it's FO'REAL!
As my weight training creeps onward, my muscles seem to be remembering things they used to enjoy.Its been some decades since I was in a ballet class (and I only had the pleasure of taking ballet for short periods in my life) but on two occasions recently my legs decided (seemingly on their own) to do some ballet movements. The first time this happened, the movement was in response to music. The second occurrence was when I was outside between the cabin and the laundry house standing near a deck railing that reminded me of a ballet barre. I bellied up to the barre, as it were, and proceeded to do some ballet stretches. It almost seemed like the muscles were telling me what to do. It didn't exactly hurt and I didn't exactly strain...but the movements engaged muscles that I have lost contact with over the years. It was like re-meeting an old friend, one you are pleased to re-connect with because you'd forgotten what a delight they were to have around. I HEART muscle memory!!!!!

99 Training Days left until KMXT's RUN the ROCK!

Run number 1 is under the belt! H'ok~ so maybe it was more like a walk, shuffle, walk, walk, walk and I went for 25 minutes instead of thirty but I did it. Only 99 more training daze to go until KMXT'S RUN THE ROCK!

So, I've given some thought to the length of the race I'm going to take on and it's going to be the ....drumroll please.... 5K. I've pondered this since my last post. Its not dramatic, its not glorious, its not anything earth shattering but it seems like a good idea. From where I am now to a smooth 3.1 miles is going to feel pretty darn good. I am the type that likes to shoot for the moon so making this kind of sensible choice is a bit revolutionary for me. It may be only 5K but its going to be a good, solid, enjoyable 5K and this time I won't be the very last of the pack.
How 'bout u?
Which race are you signing up for? The marathon? half-marathon or the 5K? hmmmmmm?

100 Training Days till KMXT's Run the Rock!

That's right...
there are 100 training days till
KMXT's Run the Rock Race!
Time to circle your calendar for Saturday, October 9th~

What better day to start training than the first day of the month? Well, I can think of one...my very favorite day to start training...TOMORROW!

But no, I tried that LAST year and ended up dead last in the 5K. The good news is that I wasn't actually dead.

It turns out that a KODIAK 5K is quite a different animal than a Kansas 5K (can I get a "NO, DUH!") . Last year I thought I could eke out a slow shuffling 3.1 mile race/walk without that training I kept putting off. I was not factoring in things like, uhm, oh for example, MOUNTAINS.

I've already started weight training at the Kodiak Athletic Club. Tonight I'm going to put in my first walk/jog of the 100 days. I'll let you know tomorrow how it went. My goal is to "just move" down the road for 30 minutes after I finish my board shift tonight. Oh and I need to make a commitment to a race: The Marathon, Half Marathon or 5K. I'll let you know that too.

More good news: As long as I keep training and avoid injury, I'm going to shave a heckuva lot of time off of last year's race.

Are you in?