Tough Mudder anyone?

So I read across this race in my Runner's World mag and thought, could I do this?  One of my hopes for 2012 is do some more races.  I know it was hard with the little man coming in March and then not sleeping until Dec., so my fall races were slimmer than I had hoped.  Ideally, I would like to do one race a month (on average).  This race is in Feb.  It's 10-12 miles but has lots of difficult obstacles.  That is where the problem runs in.  I can run the distance, but do I have the strength to complete the obstacles?  I don't have much time to train either.  Have you run this race before?  How "tough" do you need to be?

My running is improving now that I am sleeping.  But I don't do a lot of strength training (am adding more abs in the new year though).  I do yoga but usually only a couple times a month.  Maybe I would do more if I was training for something.  I also tote a 9 month old around all day.  The race says you should be able to do 25 push-ups (could get there easily) and at least 6 pull-ups (hello hips).  Yeah, I will probably never be able to do 6 pull-ups again.  So I have a lot of doubts.  I also am not sure I have someone to run with.  My brother-in-law is interested but he is in such good shape that he might really try and compete (top 5% get to go to nationals).  I know there is a lot of camaraderie so I wouldn't be a lone but it would be nice to run it with someone. 

Normally, I would just sign up and then start training but the editorial director at Livestrong (if you don't currently read his blog, you should, he has some really good insight) ran it and made it sound really tough (and he really works out, like at a gym and stuff). 

So this is where I am.  If you have run the race, let me know your thoughts.  What kind of training did you do?  How long did you train?  Should I go for it or wait another year before trying it? 

When to race?

I saw this race at the Peachtree Expo last year and immediately fell in love with the idea.  I really liked the idea of doing the FL Keys race.  I have really been enjoying getting back into running since the little guys arrival and south FL in Jan.sounds awesome.  So you ask, what's the peoblem?

1.  The hub doesn't get many vaca days, so I am not sure that he would want to take a few days off and spend them running. 

2.  The little guy that I am currently holding while he sleeps (he still won't nap in his crib, any advice on this) won't be 10 months old, and I will still be nursing (nursed DD until she was 15.5 months old).  Having 2 little ones makes it tough to do something of this difficult (but not impossible). 

3.  My sister is getting married in April, so I fear this might be too much to try to do before her wedding.  I am a bridesmaid, as well as her wedding planner, so I am busy with the wedding.  The race is in Jan.

So those are all the reasons why not to do it, but like I said, I have known about this July.  I couldn't do it last January because I was pregnant.  And it just sounds like so much fun, that I am just dying to do it.

What are your thoughts?  Should I go for it or just wait it out another year?

National Employee Health and Fitness Day

Yes, did you know that today is National Employee Health and Fitness Day. Well I didn't until I saw that Jeff Galloway was coming to my office today for a seminar on Running Injury Free. I was very excited about seeing him and hearing about what he had to say. Some of the things he mentioned:

1. No need to stretch - he does not recommend it.

2. He also is really into this whole run, walk, run when training for marathons (or whatever is a really long distance for you). He said people were actually cutting times and finishing stronger with this method. Interesting, I might have to try it.

3. Relax and let your imagination go when you are running.

4. Your body does not absorb a lot of water when you are running (around 2 oz. per mile), so there isn't a real need to drink too much while running.

He spoke a lot on these walk breaks for the run, walk, run method. I think there are several people who can use it, even if you are not training for a marathon. Just some good information I thought I could pass along.

After the seminar, we all went on a 1 mile walk and then it was back for lunch. Made me motivated to get my run in today, at least for now. :)

Race dilemma

Ok, so I don't feel like I am as prepared for this race as I usually am. I have been so busy with buying and selling a house that I haven't had as much time to run as I would like to. And then I had the stomach bug which didn't help either. Which leads me to my dilemma, what do I do about a time??? I have the Garmin Forerunner 405 (which I love) and it has a pacer on it, so I can set the speed. Now in November, I averaged 8:15 minute miles, so do I use that number or do I use a more realistic number? I definitely want to push myself but I don't want to get so far behind that I start ignoring my watch. What to do? What is your advice? Where do you think I should put my pace?