I'm a 35-year-old working dad with 3 months to get in the best shape of my life - here's how I plan to do it

I don't have a lot of visible extra weight to lose, but I could drop 10 pounds and all of it would be fat. Ten fewer pounds to carry up and down miles of mountain trails sounds good to me.

I'll be burning more calories than usual through the training, so I will likely have to consume more, not less, for optimal development. So for the first time in my life, I'll actually have to calculate my calorie intake and burn off for a while this summer.

Running on mostly flat suburban streets is great for cardio health, but for the ups and downs of the Alps, I need to develop my quads and core to a much greater degree. There aren't many appreciable hills near where I live, so I'll need to use weights and workouts instead of terrain.

You don't use the same shoes on the trail as the road, nor do you wear or bring along the same gear. Thus I am rotating through several pairs of trail running shoes (to break in the footwear and get my body used to it) and running in various types of apparel, including rain gear, windbreakers, thermals, and extra lightweight, moisture-wicking clothes.

The day of the race may be hot, chilly, rainy, windy, sunny, or a bit of each. Since trail runners are required to carry gear appropriate for all those conditions, I'm training with the stuff either on my body or in my pack.

In the past, my daily run was always the first thing to be sacrificed. If my wife needed extra help with the kids, if there was an errand to be run, or if I simply felt like taking the time to make a fancy dinner or start a household project, I'd skip the jog.

Now, with three months to go before this race, I can't do that anymore. But I also can't check out when it comes to parenting, being a husband, or working.

So instead, I move things around. I run at different times, I put off inessential tasks (mowing the lawn can always wait a day or two), and I treat my running not as a hobby, but as a responsibility.