Is it just me or does everything go crazy just prior leaving town? Seems like life just goes on without incident month after month then a week before I leave town every time BAM! POW! WHAM! holy chaos Batman…everything goes crazy. I’m no way ready to leave for Lake Tahoe and the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 Endurance Run, but guess what? I’ll walk out the door as planned, get in the car, take a deep breath and push all of it out of my mind and start focusing on running…and running…and running…and running some more.
On the way to Lake Tahoe I’ll stay overnight in Mammoth Lakes, CA. I only mention this because I’m REALLY excited to see Mammoth Lakes. Don’t ask me why because I don’t really know. Maybe because it sits at 8,000′ above sea level and I know it’s going to be cooler than Arizona. Maybe it’s because I just love being in the mountains and Mammoth Lakes looks like a neat little ski area with cool restaurants and lodges. I’m only going to be there long enough to eat dinner, sleep, get up, do a short run, then get in the car and finish the trip to Incline Village where I’ll stay for the race.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been asked several questions about the race, I thought it would be fun to share a few of them here and try to answer them.
Q. What happens when you get to the race?
A. When I get to the race Saturday morning I just start running. I don’t like standing around getting nervous so I normally try to get there 15-20 minutes prior to the 5:00 a.m. start.
Friday is the big day. 100M packet pick-up, pre-race med checks and drop bag collection will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in Carson City, Nevada. Then a “MANDATORY” 100M race briefing will begin at 4:00 p.m. in the Legislative building. At this meeting up‐to‐date conditions, any changes in race rules or procedures and last‐minute instructions will be provided.
Part of the pre-race medical check is to have our weight taken. That information will be noted on a medical wristband and placed on our wrist. We must wear the wristband for the entire race. During the race if our weight drops past a certain amount runners will be held in an aid station until their can get my weight back up. If it falls too much they’ll pull runners from the race.
After all that I’ll go back to the condo I have rented in Incline Village, eat a light, early dinner and try to relax with a good book.
Q. How long will it take you to run this race?
A. Stop asking me that! No seriously, I don’t really know. For every race I’ve ever entered I’ve had a good idea what my finishing time should be. For TRT100 I can’t figure it out. I started at 26-28 hours, after seeing split times from previous years I had the crazy idea sub 24 hours was a realistic goal. Then I started reading race reports from last year and found some reports from runners who I know and I started wondering if I could even break 30 hours. So now I don’t think about it and have tried very, very hard to push any time ideas out of my head completely.
Q. If you don’t have a time goal what is your goal?
A. Good question. My goal is to run a “smart” race. How am I going to measure that? First of all I need to stay on top of my hydration, that’s the one key item for me that I always struggle with. Instead of laying on a medical cot for a couple hours like I did at the Adrenaline 65K (and multiple other races) I would be better served slowing down, drinking more and being able to keep moving the entire time. My other action item it to stay strong mentally and stay in the moment the entire time. To do that I’ll run aid station to aid station and enjoy the journey. By simply doing that my time will take care of itself and I’ll end up finishing where I deserve to finish.
Q. Are you ready?
A. Yes. Physically I’m pretty sure I am but there’s nothing I can do about it now if I’m not. My training started on January 21st. I’ve shared a few of my runs with you like R2R2R in the Grand Canyon, Humphreys Peak loop and the Adrenaline 65k Night Race. I reached my highest mile weeks in late June when I ran 103 miles the week of June 17 and 98 miles the week of June 24 (201 miles in 13 days). After that I started a three week taper doing 70 miles, then 44 miles last week and this week I’ll do three short runs totaling 18 miles prior to Saturday’s race start.
Mentally I am absolutely ready. I’m excited to get there and to start running. I’m also ready to suffer and suffer a lot. I’ve had races where I thought I was so ready it would be easy and paid for it. I know TRT100 is going to be really hard and there will be times of suffering and pain, both physical and mental. I’m looking forward to it and looking forward to pushing through it.
Q. Is there a way I can track your progress?
A. Yes. The easiest and most reliable way will be to go to www.ultralive.net. You can search the “Entrants” in the left navigation and select my name and save me as a “Favorite”. From then on you can just go to your favorites or you can view “Top Men” and look way down the list to find my name.
Also, I think my crew will update Facebook for me but not sure. They will only see me a few times during the race so it won’t be a high priority for them.
Final Thought
I’m really looking forward to this race. I’m sure by Friday I’ll be so nervous I’ll have thoughts and doubts of why I’m doing it but that’s normal and it will pass as soon as I cross the start line Saturday morning.
If you want to learn more about the race itself visit the official race website at http://www.tahoemtnmilers.org/trter/TRTindex.html
Until next week when I’ll write my race recap…be safe and have fun!