But then your family gets into it.  And your parents hatch up a video idea to keep everyone entertained.  It’s tough to make towing exciting, so having me look just a little more comical helps.

Dad’s production company (www.tvlvideo.com) put this together for me.

As is, I almost started getting hungry at the end of the session. Good thing I had 3 slices of bacon waiting at home for me.  And the last of my protein drinks from Costco.

My breakfasts are hovering at the 900 calorie mark:

• Soy milk: 100
• Bacon (4 slices): 180
• Butter (3 pats): 108
• Old fashioned oatmeal: 150
• High-protein chocolate shake: 160
• Molases (1/4 cup): 240
• Craisins: 130
• Total: 1068 calories before 10am

And now I’m hungry 1/2 hour after.  I think I’ll have 2 boiled eggs.

It’s a Mark Twain proportioned adventure and then some.  For as that famous writer said, “You’ll only regret the things you didn’t do.”

For those of you who think you can’t do something, even by yourself, you’re wrong.

You can.

You can lose those 20 pounds.  You can run 5 miles that you’ve sworn you never could.  Only very rarely does your body really stop you from doing something.  More often than not, it’s all that junk swirling around in your head causing the problem.  It’s the FUD factor.

Fear. Uncertainty.  Doubt.

Although, as Felicity Aston learned, you might not end up liking doing activities by yourself.  Finding someone to go with, train beside, or be responsible to is always helpful.

Sure, being alone on the biggest ice cube on the planet doesn’t sound like fun to most.  But to the few of us who do think it’s a kick, we’re always dreaming about it.

I’m one of them.

At first I thought I would be self-conscious about the new banner. Then, I realized that I didn’t even think about it, as fighting to drag a tire is all-consuming.

It still feels strange to advertise myself like this. It partially comes from 15 years of writing software, where you do not think about selling the product. You only think about creating it.

Now that I’m partnered with the Prostate Cancer Foundation, I don’t feel like it’s just about me. I want to make sure this expedition serves something bigger than myself, just one human. Since prostate cancer had touched my family, I’ve got a personal stake in the matter.

It looks like a wonderful morning to go for a run. 64 deg outside. Overcast to keep the

iPod took the bullet

sun away. What better thing to do then eat sidewalk?

That is one thing I have noticed about running in the Five Finger shoes – I tend to snag my toes and stumble more. It may be because I’m leading with my toes instead of my heels.  As a consequence, I’ve tripped more than once but haven’t ever gone down.  Until today.

There’s nothing like running along and all of the sudden disappearing from view.  Maybe the guy across the street distracted me just enough and, in my distraction, I didn’t pay enough attention to the curb I was hopping.  Analyzing what happened in post action really isn’t useful other than to learn that sometimes you just eat sidewalk.

Perhaps it’s time for Big Macs. The thing is, I really don’t like them. Maybe my tune will change?

“Egads,” I told myself.

Exactly how far behind was I?  By week 2 in the 6 month training schedule, I’m supposed to be doing 77 minute sessions.  Umm…I’m not exactly slacking but I’m not at that many minutes per day.

As it was running day, I was off. But not before wolfing down a #2 at In-and-Out Burger with a chocolate/vanilla milkshake. I was hoping to test out my guts to see how they handled a heavy meal and then a decent run. Good thing my body didn’t disappoint me! The entire run went smoothly and I made it  to the 101 at Tamarack State Beach and back home in 78 minutes.

This means tomorrow will be a tire tow session of at least 77 minutes. I need to investigate if this schedule is recommended as an average over a week.  The idea is to do shorter workouts during the week and then put in a much longer weekend to balance it out.

Really, that won’t work.  It’s not like that’s how Antarctica is going to be.  That’s how the teams this past season suffered, trying to put in crazy distances at the end.  They made it but not without misery.

Falling behind here means ultimate failure later on when it really counts. I’ve got to download and install the Weight Watchers app to check my calorie intake against my workout schedule. For as much as I’m eating and still being hungry, I have no idea how I’m going to gain weight.

Butter and bacon – here I come!

But! Towing on trails was irritating, as rocks, sticks, and detritus caused snagging, making me fight with the tire. It is good training for rambling over crumbled ice.

ANI_Training_Baseline_Fitness

Right before leaving, you have to be doing 8-10 hours a day to have a chance of surviving the ice. Dragging heavy things through really cold places demands massive commitment.

As I look at the training log ANI/ALE puts out, I can see why my last trip to Yellowstone was both good and bad.  The good – my training was pretty good.  The bad – I wasn’t doing 8 hours a day.  Experiencing the consequence of that made me realize a life change was in order.  My training was good but not to the 8-10 hour level prior to departure. There’s no general way I can simultaneously work a full time job and train like this.

So, having a little life-altering meltdown may be exactly what is needed to make this whole expedition possible. Dump everything and concentrate on this. Otherwise, all the time, effort, and money will be for naught.

Sitting in that pool, watching night descend upon the city of Luxor, was one of my best experiences ever. I had the guys at the hotel find me a copy of the soundtrack. Everything there seems to be bootleg. It worked for me, as everyone there seemed not to care.

The very best of Shereen is in Arabic. I don’t understand it, though it sure sounds good. Perhaps it’s all in my mind, as this is just a memory now.