How did this happen? Well, despite my late start, not running my first marathon until age 39 and my second (actually a 50K mountain trail race) until 3 years later, I got hooked on endurance running. I've finished over 30 marathons and ultras (anything over 26.2 miles), which to many of my friends is unfathomable, and to others is pretty ho-hum. I've run 3 50 milers, and it's a natural progression in the ultra world to take the next step up to 100K or 100 miles. However, none of those 50 milers went well for me, each having about 15 miles of abject misery. Some of you will remember that after last years well-named Mountain Masochist race I swore I'd stick to marathons and 50Ks. But then my nephew Kyle signed up for Masochist this year, so I signed up again as well. But a 100 was out of the question. I talked with my son Jon about it on a recent trip, and he wisely said, "If you aren't going to enjoy it, then why do it?" There's also some evidence that running 100 miles is possibly as harmful and dangerous to your health as it is good. (I don't want to go down that rat hole topic, just indicating my mindset against doing a 100.)
But my races this year have been better. Some of them I just took easier, at least at the start, but I'd feel good from start to finish. I even got back to a qualifying time for Boston at the Lincoln Marathon in May. So I decided if I was ever going to do one, this was the time to do it.
Why Umstead? I've learned that I'm not a very good technical trail runner, nor am I that strong going up and down mountain trails, especially since my ACL surgery a couple years ago. Umstead has hills, but the longest climbs look to be about 150 over 1/2 mile or longer. Most of the trail is crushed granite, wide, soft and non-technical. The 8x12.5 mile loops can be boring and tempting to bail out at the end of any loop, but logistics become very easy. It's a 3.5 hour drive from home, and I lived in the Raleigh area from 1984-2000 and am very familiar with the park. I wasn't much of a runner then, but I did hike the single track trails a lot. I also ran the Umstead Trail marathon there a few years ago. I know what I'm getting into there, and overall I think it plays into my strengths.
So I set out to claim one of the coveted entries when registration opened at noon the first Saturday in September. It's a browser refresh race. Near noon you keep refreshing the event page if and until the register button shows up, at which point you click on it and hope it takes you to the registration page. If you're lucky enough to get in, you have 12 minutes to complete the form, otherwise it is released for someone else to get.
I did not even see the register button from 12 to 12:02. I was also following the Umstead facebook page, where the RD said that the 250 spots were in the process of being filled in. My only hope is that some would not be completed. I knew that some people would be trying from multiple PCs and having other friends try at the same time, so if they had multiple successes they would use just one. I had been using 2 different browsers on the same PC. Shortly before 12:12, I started hitting F5 on the page again. No luck the first few times. What's that? The button? Click it! Did I just...there's the registration page! And a clock telling me I have 12 minutes to complete, 11:59, :58. Hands shaking, I type in the form, and submit it. I still think something will go wrong, but I get a confirmation page, and then an email, and then I look at the other browser (which also had the register button!), refresh it, and see my name among the name of entrants.
Then it hits me. What have I gotten myself into? One of the ironies is that I had run in a marathon that morning, and it went really poorly for me in the heat and humidity. So poorly, in fact, that I quit at 12 miles. I can't dwell on that, I have to put it behind me as a non-goal race that I didn't want to ruin my fall goal races.
A day later, the questions are piling up. Am I willing to put in the endless miles to get ready for this? Can I train smart enough to get to the start line healthy? Will my legs hold up for 100 miles? What about my Morton's neuroma foot nerve issue that can flare up anytime? Can I keep forcing in food and drink to fuel and hydrate even after I just don't want any more? Will I have the patience to start slowly and leave myself something for the later laps? Do I have the mental toughness to go back out on the course after each loop when my car is right there? Do I know how to prepare for whatever weather is thrown at me? Will I remember to keep on top of any blister or chafing issues? Will I be able to stay awake? If the answer to any one of this questions isn't a pretty solid YES, I will almost certainly fall short. I don't even know if I know all the questions to ask of myself.
But I'm going to give it a shot. I'm touched by all the responses I got on facebook when I announced this, especially the offers for crewing and pacing. I'm undecided whether a larger team would be a help or not, but it's just great to have options, and such support, whether in spirit or in person.
It's on now. Training started today. I went and finished yesterday's marathon distance, running 14.4, at a relaxed pace, walking up some of the hills.
I'd better do this right, because I'm only going to try a hundo once.
Unless I get into Western States.
Or I forget the awful parts and talk myself into another one.
Or I don't finish but don't die and feel like I have to vindicate myself.
Remember, not that long ago I swore I'd never run anything longer than 50K again, and here I've got a 50M and a 100M on my calendar in the next 7 months.
To quote Major Clipton in the final line from Bridge on the River Kwai, "Madness! Madness!"
I just hope I'm not the train plunging into the river!
