The Repare Of A Treadmill & A Crazy Plan...

Okay, it's been a while since I made any crazy plans.  Well, that seems to have come to an end!!  I've been working on my race schedule for next year and one weekend has had me stumped.  I would like to run the Kansas City Marathon on 10/20.  Simple enough, right?  Well, my friend Carrie from the Good Guys vs Bad Girls Facebook competition had invited me to Mason City, IA to run the On The Road For Education Marathon (going forward I will refer to it as Mason City Marathon, it's too long) on 10/21.  I really would love to get to meet her and her family; she's been so supportive of me!  Also, Iowa would be a state I don't have yet and I have done Missouri (Blue Springs 50k this year).  So what's a guy to do??  I was going back and forth with what to do.  Finally it hit me, why not do both?  I could do the KC Marathon, drive 6 hours up to Mason City and run that one the next day.  Heck, that would even move me from a 1 star Marathon Maniac to 4 stars!!  Great plan!!  I posted about it on Facebook and, as always, my buddy Ron had to up the ante.  He suggested doing the Mankato Marathon in MN 10/20 instead of Kansas City (2 hours away from Mason City instead of 6), Mason City Marathon 10/21 then the Blue Springs 50k (which I planned to do again anyway) 10/28.  That would not only cut down on the drive time, it would also give us 3 marathons in 3 states in 9 days earning us 5 stars instead of 4!!!  I love it!!  Done.  The dates for these are not set in stone, we are just guessing based on the dates from last year, but if these dates hold up next year I'll be a 5 start Maniac!!  I've very excited!!  Safe to say, my wife is less excited and things I'm completely and totally insane.

So any way, back to the present!  I got my treadmill FIXED!!!!  I tried lubricating the walking belt, nothing.  I checked the drive belt, it was fine.  I was out of ideas.  I figured, "hey, we bought a cheap treadmill now we're getting our money's worth."  Then I stumbled on an article that talked about things to check for the problem I was having.  One of the suggestions was to check the placement of the motor.  Sometimes it can move a little and loosen the belt.  I opened it up thinking one last try couldn't hurt, sure enough I tightened the belt and it was back to normal!!  I had to go for a run on it to make sure it would hold up.  This was on Monday (12/5).  I did 7.01 miles mostly going back and forth between 9:32 & 9:14 miles then I sprinted out the last mile at 8:34.  Total of 7.01 miles in 1:05:01 for an avg pace of 9:14.  The 'mill held up great and it was a fantastic run!!  Tonight (Tues 12/6) I did another 7.0 miles at a 10:00 pace.  It was supposed to be an "easy" run, but I did P90X Legs & Back this morning so it was anything but easy!  It was harder than last night's much faster run!!  Total of 7.0 miles in 1:09:58 for an avg pace of 10:00.

I'm glad my 'mill is running now that the snow is here.  I really hope to stay outside as much as possible, but there are times in the winter that it simply isn't realistic.  I'm glad I now can continue my training even when the weather won't allow it.  Also, I plan to do my speed workouts on the 'mill.  That helps control my pace and really pushes me harder than I can do on my own.  2012 is going to be awesome; starting with a PR at the Louisiana Marathon!!!  Watch out, next year's gonna be HUGE!!!

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