CONFIRMED: The hay is in the barn

It's race week. It's what you live for as a runner, and you know you're ready to give it everything you have got.

...and then you get to the Start line and wonder to yourself...


...did I train hard enough for this puppy?
...is my mind ready for the pain and suffering that I KNOW is coming toward me?
...will my nutrition plan hold up and keep me moving forward?
...am I going to make a complete idiot out of myself on this run?
...why AM I talking to myself again??

Seriously.

You've all done this same thing, I bet. I'm pretty convinced that no matter how solid the training cycle has been, no matter how incredible your fitness level is, no matter how much planning you have dedicated to your race strategy, doubts always show up on race week. They do for me, at least.

Having said that though, and perhaps it's because this is completely new territory for me, I feel incredibly confident that I will hammer the North Face Endurance Challenge 50k on this coming Saturday. Call it foolish optimism, inexperienced exuberance, or just plain old fashioned dementia, but I really do feel that I am ready to go the distance, hammer a PR, and have an incredible time during my virgin ultramarathon.

..but I could be wrong.


Completely, totally wrong !

Nothing noteworthy to mention in terms of training, as the title of this post declares, all of my training is now stored up, ready to be called upon. There's nothing more to do on race week, aside from rest, hydrate, and fine tune your race plan. I've done all of those things thus far, and now I'm going to try and make my 1 week taper count. I haven't run since last Friday, and will only get in about 6 miles later tonight and possibly 7-8 tomorrow. Wednesday will mark the beginning of my "no-run" block leading up to race day on Saturday. I'll augment with stretching, some core work, etc., but no mileage. (I hate even SAYING that)

Trying not to go out of my mind in the next 5 days... we'll see if I make it. I'll post an update a day or so before race day.

Pray for me. SERIOUSLY