My first 50 miler is coming up in 3 weeks and so I’m inclined to start thinking about it a little more.
I’m kind of surprised actually now that I’m nearing the point of doing a 50 mile race. If you had asked me a year ago when I would even run a marathon I would have said probably never.
Now as I look forward to the run rabbit run, I’m getting really excited for it.
Here are some of the things I think would be cool to happen in my first 50 miler (in order from ridiculously impossible to slightly more realistic):
- Beat Geoff Roes and set a new course record
- Finish in under 9 hours and in the top 10
- Fuel and pace myself properly so that I enjoy the entire day and finish feeling strong.
- Finish the race
OK, item 1 was a joke obviously. But the other 3 I think are at least possible.
3 out of the top 11 people from last year are doing the race again this year. Ryan Burch – 1st, Dylan Bowman 6th, and Bryan Goding 2nd. And then there’s Geoff Roes doing it this year and I’m quite sure nobody is going to be even close to him and he’ll probably set a huge course record. Although Bill Fanselow is pretty dang fast, won the northfork 50 miler by a long ways. Patrick Garcia, never met him, but his training is looking way better than mine. And I’m also sure there will be a bunch of other people ready to fill in the top 10 who I have no clue of.
So is top 10 realistic for me in this competitive of a field? Probably not. But you never know I guess. I’m going to run my own pace with a heart rate monitor, and see where that gets me. It will be fun to see. I think if I can pace myself properly and fuel properly I should be able to do it under 9 hours and that should put me somewhere close to the top 10 based on last years results. But then again, there are 75 more entrants this year.
In 2007 9 hours would have been 4th overall. 2008 it would have been 5th place. In 2009 9 hours would have been 10th. So we’ll see how it all plays out. It should be fun. And when it comes down to it, I’m going to go my own pace that I feel I can hold all day. Which means keeping my heart rate around 150 for the first 70-80% of the race at least. 9 hours is a long time to be running. But I have had good experiences running for 6 and 7 hours, so I feel like I’m as prepared as I need to be. My base fitness is definitely in place at this point.
Now its just a matter of taking care of myself and coming up with a final 3 week plan that gets me to the start line healthy, injury free, rested, and well-fueled. Then all that’s left will be having fun in the mountains all day.
Really looking forward to my bud Danny Currit coming out from Seattle to run it with me too.
