greetings fellow masochists

your newest drunken runner here... from the dreary and yet lovely pacific northwest. allow me to introduce myself (i have had my first cup of tea this morning, so it should be mostly pleasant).

i hail from the hippy haven of santa cruz, calif. but met our very own sixpack chopra at Chimp U in SF and am now his parter-in-crime at Reactor Press. i just relocated back to the US after living in japan for two years.

my endurance event madness started years ago just before i first moved to SF. i got into running with a friend and did a 10k. and then a few years later did an olympic-length triathlon to raise money for the leukemia&lymphoma society (with TNT- Go Team!) in honor of my father-in-law who died from leukemia a month after i married his amazing son.

this year i turn 30... and while my body was languishing in the two-and-a-half looong weeks i spent with the in-laws in Florida for xmas this year, i thought to myself, among many other less productive and more hateful things, "gawd, everyone in the south is fat and lazy. i can't wait to get back to the PNW and get back to my normal life-- eat not-fried food and get moving on a regular basis."

and then i thought about how i turn 30 this year and how for the most part i am ok with it and how i am generally healthy and active... but the part of me that is NOT ok with turning 30 needs to do something drastic... and since i don't like cars, much less sports cars, and since i already have done the piercing and tattoo thing, i figured that running a marathon was a crazy drastic thing to do in my 30th year.

so here i am, thanks to sixpack encouraging me to join the ranks of the drunk runners.

i specifically wanted to mention... i read over a few of the most recent posts and there is a book i read/used while training for the tri that i think would be helpful for you, especially sixpack and forest (who mentioned eating in relation to training):

Eating for Endurance, by Dr. Phil Maffetone

i think it's out of print, but there are used copies on amazon, and maybe elsewhere. it is really worth picking up. he goes through the science of food and what your body needs for endurance event training and what foods are best (and worst) for training. i will say he is a huge advocate for nuts and avocados (the fruit of the gods). plus, since he does not include alcohol on the "worst" list, he is right up our alley (and i don't count the fact that alcohol is technically not a food- it has calories, right? and it nourishes the soul, right?). i don't follow his recommendations to the letter, but i learned from this book and found that i did really well with how i ate for the tri training.

cheers and happy new year to you all... jogijogi-chan
(name explanation some other time. "joe-ghee-joe-ghee-chawn" is the pronunciation... just say it in a japanese accent and you'll be fine).