Christmas came early! L.A. here we come!

Following our Bass Pro half, Kimi and I were gearing ourselves up for a loaded training cycle leading up to the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials to be held in L.A. on February 13th!  My intentions were to train with Kimi so that she wouldn't have to suffer in the cold and miserable temperatures all alone, but I didn't intend to actually run the L.A. marathon the day after hers.  The next thing I know, I was being told that for my Christmas gift this year, my in-laws wanted me to run in the L.A. marathon. Immediately, my focus changed and I started gearing myself up for what will be an exciting race! 

I took 5 days off following Bass Pro to simply have a mental and physical hiatus and I'm sure glad I did so. Now I am mentally ready to go!  Kimi is focused and now I'm focused completely as well which usually makes for a great training cycle. We're now under 14 weeks away from our next marathon adventure. For those of you that have run a marathon, you know that 14 weeks of preparation never seems like enough time to get into tip-top shape!  We've quickly added in strength training and started building mileage back up.  

Our goal is to get up near 90-100 miles per week for a few weeks so we can give it everything we have headed into what should be one of Kimi's lifetime achievement highlights!  She's running in the Olympic Trials for crying out loud! How sweet is that!  

I want to take this time now to set everyone straight for what Kimi's realistic chances of making the Olympics are.  There will be approximately 100-150 girls in her race. And of those girls, only the top 3 finishers make the Olympic Team!  Don't get me wrong, I think Kimi can still improve upon her prior best, but to make the team will be a slim opportunity.  However, with that in mind, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't encourage Kimi over the next 3 months!  Every chance you get to encourage her through this training cycle, I simply ask that you tell her to keep her focus and to do the best she can.  Most of all, encourage her by letting her know that you're excited that she's made it this far and that you're excited to see her improve some more over the next 3 months!  

I know that last paragraph may seem like a downer, but trust me, it's not!  I'm very proud of Kimi and her discipline and I am truly blessed and honored to be her spouse and training partner.  I do have to say one last thing, I just hope we both come home from L.A. with new personal bests and who knows, perhaps we will both finally reach our dream goals in the marathon!