Before the Run...

This coming Saturday I will be participating in something that makes me nervous to think about…which is a fairly rare thing these days. I will be running the American River 50 Miler, which will be my first 50 Mile race (starting in Sacramento and going uphill to Auburn). I plan to write up a nice race report after it’s over (hopefully with me finishing in a time that I’m happy with), but I also wanted to put a few words on paper as this is my one chance to say how I’m feeling going into this length of a race. I mean sure, there is a chance I could “catch the fever” and decide to put a 100-miler on my calendar for some time in the future (like my lovely wife), but for now I’m just focused on this endeavor and hoping to make it as enjoyable an experience as I possibly can. I hope that 5 years from now after having run many more of these, I can look back and say "Wow, remember when this whole crazy thing first started?"...

It's amazing to me to see how far Michaela and I have come over the past 2 years. To think that it was just December of 2010 when we ran our first marathon. At the time Michaela was running half-marathons and since she decided to try one out I figured I could check it off of my bucket list….who knew the monster it would awaken?

I actually have to thank all of our friends that we’ve met on the trails over the past two years, because I can 100% guarantee that without you all, I wouldn’t be about to attempt to run a 50-miler. Sure, running on the roads around our neighborhood is a necessary evil as there is only so much time in a day, but I don’t really feel myself settling into an enjoyable run until I hit those beautiful trails and catch up with my friends. It’s this dynamic that has kept me coming out week after week and allowed the miles to ratchet up without feeling like I was just running on some never-ending hill. If I were confined to just running on pavement, I know I would have ended my journey as a runner a long time ago.

As the race has approached, I am hearing more and more people call me crazy for doing this and I know I’m not the first to hear it…..sure, some people call us crazy for what we do. I mean, we probably are a little crazy…and not just for the length of the runs that we’re doing, but the time that we commit to it, the ungodly hours that we wake up on weekends to freeze our asses off on the side of a mountain, the fact that we’ll try anything to fix an injury or prevent a future one (hello cryotherapy, ultrasounds, ice baths, foam rollers, yoga, etc.), the dollars we spend on gear (um, Hokas!?!?), babysitters or post-run beer (well, maybe that part’s not so crazy). But that’s all a part of it, and the overall experiences that we get to enjoy, the journey so to speak, has been totally worth it up to this point and I look forward to what the next years will bring as we continue to evolve as runners.

With all that being said, I think I’m ready to go for this weekend. I have put in the training, I have made my race-day plans, and I have done my best to mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. The only problem for me is that I don’t know what’s to come! Oh sure, I have spoken to a hundred people that have run this race (or another 50/100-miler) and I have read through race reports and looked at split times. But my body has never run to the mile-32 marker and beyond. So while I have an idea of what I want to do, there is still this big “X-factor” that could make or break my day. But for me, that’s one of the key reasons that I do this. I was never one for surprises and I’m not one to let a challenge go unanswered. I’m not scared of what’s to come, I’m anxious to embrace it, learn from it, and improve upon it. Be it hell or high water, or in this case stomach cramps or muscle spasms, I will be running this sucker on Saturday and I’ll let you know what I find out when I’m done. I’m sure it’ll be a blast!