Joy on the trail

Not much of a post for this week, or last week frankly, because I am busy preparing for this most epic of races.

Anytime I register for a race my mind progresses through a series of steps.

Stage 1: Register – I’m totally going to win this thing.
Stage 2: Write plan – I’m probably going to hit my time goal.
Stage 3: Training – It will be cool to finish in the top 10.
Stage 4: Taper – I’m going to add 2 hours to my time goal.
Stage 5: Start line – New goal, just finish the race.

I can confidently say that 1, 2 and 3 are not going to happen. 4 is nearing reasonable and 5 and 6 are definitely realistic. It’s not hubris that I think I can win initially, it’s just a deep desire to give as much effort as possible. Then as training starts the reality of the challenge sinks in and things become much more realistic.

That being said, my true goals for this race are:

1. Finish.
2. Go under 8 hours.
3. Go under 6 hours.

I’m mostly excited to watch how other competitors handle this race. There is another aspect to endurance racing that is so different from triathlon. In a 50k you must carry your own water, you must know what foods you can eat at the aid stations, you must decide how much time to spend at an aid station. If someone is going specifically for speed, the odds are they won’t stop at the aid station for any fuel. I want to see what that looks like. Then there are people who are just completing the event, they’ll take plenty of time, restock supplies, refill waters and maybe even sit down. I want to see what that strategy looks like too.

I don’t know what to expect, and I’m really going into it with an open mind and very little expectation on myself. It’s a new challenge and as a friend just told me, “go out there and find joy on the trail.”