Thursday, June 12, 2014

Thoughts before my first 100 miler!

Maybe it's having been an endurance athlete for a while, maybe it's having 4 kids and being back for 4 days from an awesome week of camping in Yellowstone and Tetons, but I'm pretty down to earth and mellow about this.  I would like a little more excitement from me about it, more of that pre race energy in the air, but like I said, there is a lot going on at home, so maybe once I get down there tomorrow it will be there.  I am looking forward to it and am excited though.
The Bryce 100 on Saturday will be the farthest race I have ever run, and the 3rd longest race mileage wise I've ever done (but the others were on a bike and swimming too).  I feel pretty ready, training went well.  There's always room for more, but I feel good about things.  My biggest concern is staying awake during the wee hours of 1-4:30am but I acquired an excellent night man and now pacer Mark Kreuzer to accompany me during those hours.  The first 73 or so are all me and I like that, but I know the help during those dark hours will be really great.
My nutrition plan is good and I plan to stick to gels -Vfuel mainly- as much as I can tolerate it (which has been up to 65 miles so far, the longest I've run) and then eat whatever looks good at aid stations.  I imagine Ramen will be frequent, and maybe grilled cheese or burritos if they are warm and fresh.  And watermelon, I like watermelon.
Time wise I would like to finish around 24 hours, give or take 2 hours.  Of course I'll be happy just to finish, but I feel good about it and I like time goals.  The current course record is 25:15 or something like that and I'd like to go under that.  I'd also like to be top 3.  And mostly I'd like to feel as well as I can during it, stay awake, and just see what a new distance will throw at me, what it will be like.
You can track me here if you like, I'm bib 75.  I'd like to come into halfway about 10-10.5 hours.





     
                     Here we go!

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