Moab 100 fast approaches!

In just 26 days, I'll embark on the first of 18 5.37 mile loops on the Monitor and Merrimac trail 16 miles north of Moab in an attempt to do my first sub-30 hour 100 mile run, and at the same time once again assist my daughter Paislee in raising funds for a service expedition to Brazil.

The realities of "normal" life always make me question the training I've been able to do leading up to an event like this... was it enough, was it the right kind, etc. However, it ends up being the training I did regardless, and therefore it's what I enter the event with and I always hope it was "enough".

For this event, I'm hoping my new "clown shoes" (www.hokaoneone.com) will give me just a little advantage when running across the off-angle, hard-as-concrete sandstone mountain that makes up the trail. This stuff is brutal on the legs, and over the period of 100 miles, having a little extra cushion can't be a bad thing!
An ultra-runner friend of mine commented "welcome do the dark side!" when he found out I bought my first pair of Hoka's, so I have to assume good things!

So, in the coming three weeks I'm tyring to get in a few good long runs 20-30 miles, a bunch of short runs (6-10 miles), and get limbered up for some serious abuse! Stay tuned to the blog during the event, as I'll be posting from the trail wherever possible, and Paislee will be posting from the base-station. Happy Running!

The Wasatch 100 Draw: NOT!

I attended the "draw" for the Wasatch 100 Mile Run today, held at the Homestead Resort in Midway, UT. This is the location where the race ends, a serene and pleasant location that belies the torment and pain the most runners experience in the 20-30 hours previous to thier arrival.

The Race Director told us that there were 500+ applicants, and after taking into account the "guaranteed runners", and the "Grand Slammers", the percentage of success in the draw was going to be around 65%.

The process was pretty sterile, with occasional outbursts of cheering when one of the attendees was selected. The Race Director would draw out a name, and his assistants would confirm that name was properly registered and paid in, and then they'd check off the name and record it as an official entry.

All the way up to today, I had assumed that I was going to draw out, but as the names kept being read, and my name became increasingly absent, I realized there was a strong chance that I was going to go home empty-handed. Several of us in attendance eneded up leaving with the knowledge we were not going to run the Wasatch 100 this year, and to say were weren't disappointed would be a lie, but there are many races to run, and many years of running ahead of me, so I'm not too torn up. ;)

September will be a repeat of the Bear 100, and October will be my first Pony Express 100, so I'll still get three 100's this year. Gotta love the process!