We CAN Summit that Mountain

Training for a Marathon has so many up and downs. I have never run more than 13.1 miles in my life and come January 13th, 2019 that will all change. I will increase my record distance to 26.2. When I envision that day, it is all excitement! I will be running in one of my favorite places in the world, Walt Disney World. I will have friends and family supporting me. And, I think, most importantly I will be proving to myself that I can set high goals and achieve them.

The training program I decided on was very spread out (over 6 months). This means I am over halfway through the plan. I did the long plan for the main reason of being able to give my body the breaks it needs and not over stress when I have to move some of the runs around based on my body and personal life schedule. However, it also means that the risk of deciding to skip a run is higher because the run seems so far away.

In order to help keep focused, I decided to sign up for the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon. I have run a half marathon before, but this one turned out to be so much better. I crossed that line still having fuel in my tank. It was a feeling I needed to continue to push and to gain the confidence that I CAN run a full marathon.

You might be asking what does this have to do with Cans for Kili? Well…in order to summit the tallest peak in Africa we will have to complete a workout regimen, similar to my marathon. Jeff Bonaldi, our leader through the Explorer’s Passage, sent us the plan this week. Starting 5 months out we will be doing aerobic activities, the stairclimber and hiking as much as we can. Increasing the time/distance each month. It is long and much like the marathon I’m sure I will have weeks that aren’t completed as needed. But again, like the marathon I will be envisioning the top of that mountain.

I won’t get this far in the can collection to let myself stop when it comes to training. I promptly made a spreadsheet, so I can track each weeks activity and check off when its complete. Similar to the marathon, we will have a halfway point to set our eyes on. We will be planning a trip out to Colorado to get some real mountain climbing practice as a halfway point to keep pushing us to train.

While I am closing in on the finish line for my Disney Marathon, I am just starting to plan for the Mount Kili climb. However, I feel more prepared now than ever and with the help of my team I know we CAN summit that Mountain.