Umstead 100 mile run - this weekend

Starts Saturday Morning at 6AM

Just wanted to write a quick post with a couple of thoughts about this weekend.

I'm totally in my head. I wonder if I have sufficiently recovered from the 50-mile race two weekends ago, and think probably not. My daily runs have been short and easy, and I really don't feel anything in them - but every now and then I'll take a step something in my leg will remind me that I'm not 100% yet. But then again, it might just be nothing. Or perhaps it's something that has nothing to do with anything. I don't know. I guess I'll find out Saturday.

I am pleased with Friday's hill climb - the 50-miler, which was 6 days prior, didn't seem to bother me. And Umstead will be 8 days after the hill climb - 14 days after the 50. I intentionally opted out of descending the hill climb, which would have caused the most trauma to my legs. But even without that, for a few days I felt a surprising little pain in my left knee when stepping up on something - which was obviously directly caused by all the stepping up I did that morning in Palm Springs. But now it's been a few days since I felt anything there, so whatever.

I know intellectually - and I've just got to convince myself emotionally - all I have to do on Saturday and Sunday is keep moving. Get out of my head and not stop. And what happens will happen. Last year I confidently said the worst that can happen is I don't make it to the 87.5 mile cutoff in time. Last year I was overestimating my mental toughness.

I've learned a lot in the last year.I saw at Badwater the kind of mental strength that some people have, and couldn't help but notice just how deficient I am in that area - but that was compared to what it takes to run Badwater. I think I am tougher than I was this time last year. I just don't know if I'm tough enough to finish 100 miles in 30 hours at Umstead.

I suppose it's normal to have these kinds of butterflies in the days before a big race like this.

I will try to do a few in-race updates on facebook and twitter. If you're not following me on twitter, it's http://twitter.com/#!/stevetursi.

Here's my itinerary, in care you're interested:

Tonight we're leaving (right now) and driving to Richmond, Virginia.
Tomorrow we'll drive down to Raleigh. I'll sleep in a cabin at Umstead, and Alex and Joe have a hotel for both nights.
Saturday, Saturnight, Sunday morning: run.
Sunday afternoon: drive to Manassas, Virginia
Monday: Spend half a day in D.C., drive home.

I'll post a full report early next week.