i'll be a tough mudder in 9 days.

i'm starting the countdown. in only 9 days i'll be roughing and toughing it through mud and other filth in squaw valley, tahoe, with my other hair-brained friends in the norcal tough mudder. when i first registered, i was under the impression the course was 8 miles. then i learned it was 10 miles. just the other day when i was looking up our start time (9.40a!) our course was listed at 11 miles. 11 miles!!! with an accumulated elevation of 2300 ft. we really must be nuts to have signed up for this challenge. i'm excited but pangs of nervousness tear through me from time to time.

jennifer, my trainer, and i have been working really hard. a few months back i signed up to see her every week instead of just every other week and i've seen a real difference. not only am i 9 pounds lighter than i was when i ran my 1/2 marathon, i'm stronger, too. it's really something to watch your body change so much. the rewards are high and increases my motivation like you wouldn't believe.

last night i hit the stairclimber for 30 minutes at a choking speed and then 16 minutes on the cybex--that's 46 minutes total in cardio. i was hoping it would work out some of this soreness i'm still experiencing from my trainer workout on tuesday but the squats i did were so heavy and i did so many jumping lunges that today i can barely sit down on the john. it's a good soreness but still...

here are some of the exercises in my repertoire with jennifer:

• side plank dips
• pushups
• squats
• jumping lunges
• jumping jacks
• jumping rope
• one-leg leg press
• plank on a balance ball
• chest bench press
• lat pull-downs
• dips
• step-ups with weights
• curls
• bungee cord pull-back and run squat
• tricep dips
• walking lunges
• side lunges
• jumping twist squats
• plank

anyone want to join us? it'll be the best 60 minutes of your day.

my plan for working out next week is 1/2 a session with jennifer on monday followed by lots of stretching and then easy cardio and yoga for the rest of the week. i don't want to be quite as intense as i have been but i also can't slack it off.

sidenote: i am now collecting pep talks. the race is saturday the 17th. eek!