Canadian Death Race

I just realized I'm not in as good of shape as I thought I was...and it took a darn arc trainer to let me know! I did a couple gym sessions on cross training equipment like the elliptical, stair climber and arc trainer. Damn, those suckers are hard when you increase the resistance and incline! My heart rate was jumping well into the 160s. Hills are not my forte. So what's that matter? I live in central Illinois and we don't have big hills. Even Clinton Lake, Forest Glen, and McNaughton Park are pretty tame as far as long or steep hills are concerned. What do I care if I'm not a "hill person"? In general, I don't care. Unfortunately, lately I have been thinking about doing the Canadian Death Race in 2010.

The Canadian Death Race is a 125km trail race in early August way up in the Canadian Rockies. It starts and finishes in Grande Cache, Alberta. It goes over 3 mountain summits and has 17,000 feet of elevation gain. I'm not ready for that kind of race with those kind of mountains! I need to begin preparations for next August right now. I'll be running the local "tough" trails (Clinton Lake, Forest Glen, McNaughton Park) as much as possible this fall, winter, and spring. I'll also be visiting the gym on a regular basis to do uphill running and walking on the treadmill, stair climbing, and elliptical and arc trainer workouts. If I am in reasonable shape come January 2010, I'll sign-up for the Canadian Death Race. If not, I guess I'll have to settle for Howl at the Moon 8-Hour for my big summer race. Howl at the Moon isn't too bad, is it? At least the promotional tag line for Howl at the Moon isn't "It's a Killer!"