As I sit here today thinking about 2014 and dreaming about 2015, I started to get frustrated. I realized I have not accomplished my 2013 nor my 2014 Cool Impossibles. At first I let negativity take over. I could choose to see myself as a loser, a pathetic excuse of a runner who's too weak to accomplish her goals. But then I flipped my thinking around. Sure, its still a bummer that I didn't achieve my CI's, but in the last 2 years, with the help of Eric's book and this wonderful community, I…

I've just recently started looking into duathlons. About a month ago I found one that was a sprint distance on mountain bike trails. I tentatively drove up this morning, not sure how I was going to do, especially nervous about how fast the times from last year were. I know I shouldn't care about my time but if I'm honest, there is a small part of that doesn't want to be dead last. But someone's gotta be right?

We had lots of rain yesterday and I thought they might cancel the race.…

No, not the Danica Patrick version! I'm talking about my father. He is a big part of the reason that I've been a runner for almost 23 years. He has been a runner since he was 13 years old- he's told me stories of taking a lawn mower to a field across the street from where he lived and mowing a personal track, hidden among the tall weeds. He says that he loved to go run and run after school, where no one could see him, the smell of the sweet hay filling his nose, and all his worries would…

Alright, I’m going to admit something that I would rather not, but in the interest of being smarter and improving my running, I feel it is necessary. I read TCI last year and jumped right into Phase 1. But, Karen, you don’t have a HR monitor. “That’s ok”, I said to myself, “I can run based on feel.” Bad idea #1. 6 weeks into Phase 1 my heel and arch started feeling tight and sore. “I’m sure that’ll go away.” Bad idea #2. Continued to train, since the pain was only bad first thing in the…

I’ve had a tough time developing my Cool Impossibles for 2014. Back in November and early December I was stressing WAY too much over it. Lori Enlow asked me, “If you had nothing to consider what would you LOVE to be able to do this year?” My answer: I. Don’t. Know. Do I want to go faster? Farther? Steeper? Arg!! Which really freaked me out, since I plan EVERYTHING. And then I finally told myself to stop obsessing over it and just let it happen.

And it did, midway through Phase One of…

My CI last year was a 50K in October. I ended up with a stress fracture in July and by the time I healed I didn't have time to finish training for the 50K. Bummer. SO I thought about making my 2014 CI the same race, but it seems a little lame. Also, there's been a voice in the back of my head (probably Eric's!) telling me that I haven't truly declared a Cool Impossible. See, the whole time I was planning my 50K training, I didn't have doubts of finishing. I'm a finisher-…

I haven't been on trails in months. I had high hopes of running on the US Whitewater Center trails this morning. I thought the previous day's rain would close their trails, so I was already planning to run the mountain bike trails down the road. But I forgot about the time change last night. Because I knew my children would wake up at their normal time (i.e. what would be an hour earlier this morning) I went ahead and got up at my normal time, instead of enjoying that extra hour of sleep. I…

While attempting a 20-miler this past Sunday my right foot started REALLY hurting after 9 miles. I had felt great so far, and was puzzled by the sudden pain. But this was the kind of pain I knew I shouldn't try to "run through". After reading up on the kind of pain and the location, I've come to find that I probably have a fracture of my 3rd metatarsal. I icing and resting, anxious to know when I can get back out there. I certainly don't want to push things too quickly and re-injury. But…

Ever since I watched Eric's videos on running form, I've wanted to get a look at my own.  But I've also been embarrassed to ask anyone to take video/pictures of me running. I know that's silly but I've rarely enjoyed getting my photo taken. That's beside the point. I was finishing my long run yesterday; feeling pretty good. I realized I was running by a building that sat lower than the sidewalk I was on. I was able to see my reflection clearly in the windows and I expected to see poor form.…

I "accidentally" created my mantra this past weekend. Towards the end of my long run, I was worrying about a long hill climb. I reminded myself that my reserves go much deeper than I think. I also reminded myself that I have control over my state of mind and I don't need any extra energy/muscle to adjust my state of mind. And so my mantra was born: Deep reserves, state of mind. I didn't chant it to my cadence, which I normally like to do. I just said it slowly and evenly. I…