The Training continues for the 100 Mile race in October

It has been a while since I last wrote but one thing has continued non-stop... I am still running...

The last 3 weeks I have put the following miles a week, 50, 57 and last week 68 miles. This week I will be running 72 miles and finally next week, I get what we call a drop back week. Which means I get to slow down on my mileage.

Many people wonder if I am crazy and I just run to run and the answer is YES, I am crazy but NO, I don't just run... A little over three weeks ago, I hired a super ultra marathon coach. His name is Todd Braje, I first found out about Todd from my great friend Michele Hartwig. They both belong to team Inov-8, in the event you don't recognized the name Inov-8, they make trail shoes... In fact that's all they do, trail shoes is their core business. Well Todd happened to have won the Ice Age 50 mile race I ran in WI in May. He also won the 50 Mile race that I ran in Devil's Lake in July also in WI. Lastly Todd won the US National 100 mile trail National Championship last month in Ohio. He has been giving me a schedule that I follow every week. He has been extremely helpful in putting this training together for me. I feel that I am getting healthy and stronger at the right time.

Two weeks ago I ran a 32.4 mile race with my friends from the Chicago Ultrarunners club in Palos Heights. It took me a little bit over 7 hours to cover that distance, it was slow but considering that it was over 90 degrees and 1000% humidity, I would take it. My training is getting intense, the miles are getting longer but I am loving every second of it...

I am running once a week at night and that's always scary and a little bit stressful. Tomorrow my best friend Anastasia and I are going to run 15 to 20 miles at night and that will be a new experience for me. Yesterday, we were exactly two months away from our 100 miler at Javalina 100. It is getting closer and I am not going to lie that I am not just getting excited but I am also getting nervous. I remember exactly what my body felt like at the 50 miler and to think that in October, I will have to do that twice is a little bit scary. That been said, I consider this to be a great challenge, I consider this to be an opportunity to push my body, my mind and my heart to a new level of toughness.

What's next for me, well last of miles but I am running 2 or 3 marathons in the next weeks before the 100 miler. I know I am running the Fox Valley and Chicago Marathon and possibly the Milwaukee marathon. I am already running 26 to 30 miles every Saturday so I may as well run the marathons and have fun...

I am looking forward to seeing some of you on the running roads or trails... Please remember that I am running for Operations Warm. The Rotary Club of Carpentersville is heading this project and I am running to collect money so we can buy winter jackets for kids of low income families. We want to ensure that these kids have the opportunity to go to school. Many times the kids don't go to school during the winter because they don't have a jacket to go outside. Please help us, $20 can buy a nice winter jacket for these kids. As of now, I have collected about $460.00 Please ask me how you too can help us by donating a minimum of $20.00

Thanks and God Bless you!!!

Juan "the machine" Juarez