pre vermont 50 post

(sorry, no photo this post)

it's 8pm at the super-8 in white river junction. i'm about to get a shower and try to get some sleep. this is just a quick post about my feelings.

first of all, i don't expect to finish. i won't quit, but race officials are going to pull me at some point during the race when i fall behind the pace required to finish before 13 hours. figured i'd make an honest effort, cut my losses and have a beer.

so i've been treating this race like a fun training run in the mud.. (yes it's been raining here)

to be honest, because of the cutoffs i really was regretting even registering for the race, and if it wasn't for friends also running tomorrow, i wouldn't have come. i wasn't looking forward to driving up here just to dnf a race with aggressive cutoffs.

when i got here, and especially at higher elevations (such as it is in vermont), the foliage is incredible, and i found myself thinking about how cool it would be to go hiking during this incredible season.

somehow, my thoughts weren't linking up in the previous moment because i immediately realized my whole reason for being here. my 'yeah it kinda sucks that i won't finish but i'm ok with it' attitude became more of a 'holy crap this is going to be awesome!' attitude and i'm finding myself very happy to be here.

so that's where i'm at for tomorrow. i still don't expect to finish in time, but who cares? i'll do my best and that's all i can ask of myself. strategy: run the first half like a marathon.. and hopefully get to the 30 mile aid station at under a 14:30 pace. after that, i'll just keep going until they pull me. perhaps i'll surprise myself and make it to 50.. otherwise, it'll be a great training run. mud can put a damper on this whole plan, and depending on how bad it is it may keep me from making it even to the marathon point. because i don't expect to finish, i've not been tapering - ran 20 miles last weekend and had a speed session this week - so my legs are feeling kind of worked..

eh. it's all good. it's going to be a beautiful day, especially towards the afternoon, and i'm really looking forward to having a great run through some of the prettiest countryside God has ever created.

look for a race report some time monday..


btw in two weeks i'll be doing the chicago marathon. pacing rizzo. that should be a really fun report to read.

off to the shower..

-steve