Island Peak - 296 Days to Departure

I never liked running, especially running in circles - imagine school yard tracks - or running from nowhere to nowhere like on a treadmill. As a matter of fact I dislike running so much, I would often pretend I was being sick to avoid the compulsory 1 mile run we have to undergo twice a year while in elementary school.

Running; however proofed to be the the most effective way for me to deal with high altitude. I remember clearly my first hike to Camp Muir in 2008 when after reaching the elevation of 9000 ft the air seemed to disappear and I had to work extremely hard to make any progress. And I remember just as clearly how much different my experience was during my second hike to Muir, or the climb of Mt. Adams - after I implemented little bit of running and interval training in my workouts.

With our upcoming Nepal trip in mind, I knew I will have to find way to embrace this dreadful activity. I started with short, 10-15 minutes sessions of jogging, and slowly increased the time and speed over the last few weeks. Then at the very end of last week, I tried something I'd never thought I would have the slightest desire to ever do - running little longer distance - and I finished my 1st 5k run. And Just two days later, I did it again with a time of 30 minutes 45 sec.

Note: I still can't say I like running, but for the sake of training I can definitely tolerate it.