Another Impulsive Race

So I've had my eye on this one for a while now but decided I wasn't going to do it. It was the end of the year and I figured I might as well use the rest of the month of December as a rest and recover month, aside from normal training runs. Well yesterday I got to thinking. My legs felt great. My body felt great. I had another 24 miles to go to reach my goal of a 100 miles for the month and, most of all, I was itching to run another ultra!

So I signed up for the Rodeo Beach Trail Run 50k put on my Pacific Coast Trails in Sausalito, CA. Signed up Thursday and the race is tomorrow, Saturday. This is now the second impulse driven race I have signed up for, the first being the San Francisco marathon 3 days before the event. Going into this one, though, is that I have ran a lot this year and have ran the longer distance enough to know that I can do it.

And I also wanted to test my internal test of endurance (which of course continually fluctuates as I add tests and take tests out, so not the best test in the world). My first test was to, of course, run the marathon, then to run an ultramarathon. Then I wanted to be able to run after a marathon and have a fast enough recovery to be able to run the week after. Which I did, running five miles the day after and a half marathon the weekend after. Then I wanted to be able to run an ultramarathon and still feel comfortable running the week after. All of them have been check marks.

Now the next test: run two marathon or longer distances in the same month. With the Woodside 50k ran on the 1st, that puts this one 3 weeks after, which will be a good test.

I don't doubt that I can do it, but it will be on how my body reacts that I want to see. That is the true test.

Goals. Finish in less than 7 hours. This shouldn't be a problem as I have already done this, although this 50k has more elevation gain. I will also set a goal to remember to eat and drink at every aid station, regardless of how fresh I feel. This is the key to running a sub 7 hour, and hopefully running a sub 6:30. I didn't eat properly at the Woodside 50k and that killed my time, which would have come closer to 6 hours, maybe sub 6, if I had only eaten properly. And that is it, two goals. Both interconnected.

Once I have completed this one I will have ran 2 marathons and 3 50ks this year (6 total for life) and can now feel confident in the distance, which would lead well into next years general goal of working on increasing my speed in both distances.

Here's to another impulsive race entry!