Hat Run

Me after my first Hat Run 50K

I’m sitting here contemplating taking a nap or doing school work, when I decided to pay my daily FaceBook visit.  I scroll down to view what all my runners are doing and after I sort through all Mike Gross’ Garmin and Nike post of one run, I come across Charlotte being thankful that her last training run is done before The Hat Run 50k.  I open it up to see all types of well-wishers trying to convince Charlotte that she will be fine.  I think to myself this is very nice of her friends and family and then I see a comment from Charlotte stating she doesn’t feel as if she’s put enough training for this race.  I would like to take this moment (right before I bore you with my running update) to say to everyone going to Maryland Saturday to attempt an Ultra marathon that this is remarkable in itself.  I remember when Chris Mortensen approached a group of us before a Winter Series race in 2006.  He started talking to us about how he loved this 50k trail run he did the previous year and was doing it again in March.  He asked the group of us still foolishly standing there if we would do it.  We all said yes and the following year I stuck to my word and signed up for an “Ultra Marathon.”  Just the sight of those two words side by side was enough to shoot chills down my spine.

 I trained just as I had for previous marathons with the addition of bumping up the miles on the long runs from 20 milers to 24 milers and the incorporation of walking up hills to simulate all the walking that would take place on the hills at the Hat Run.  As the date of the race got closer I started thinking to myself that I was absurd for agreeing to do this and I was stressing a tad more with each passing day.  I wasn’t able to relax until my friends started telling me they believed in me.  With them believing in me I was able to use the encouragement to reinforce my confidence.  By the morning of the race I was nervous, but still confident.  I finished the race with Allyson pacing me for the last loop and was now considered an “Ultra-Marathoner.”  I thankfully was not bitten by the ultra-bug, but I did return the next two years to help the others in that group that agreed to do this race back in 2006.  I was able to tell of my experience and add encouraging words to them in addition to pacing them in the last loop of the race.  I again returned last year because someone challenged me to race them and due to an injury they had to scratch, but I was able to run with my best friend for five and a half hours and enjoyed every minute of it, making each other laugh as we reminisced of our high school cross country days and shared laughs.  This is my plan again this year, I plan to run on some great trails and just enjoy myself and the runners around me. 

The point of me sharing this is the same reason for my sharing of my training for the Pocono marathon, to help you the reader to become confident in your abilities.  I want all you first time ultra-marathoners to take those two words and not allow them to intimidate you, but rather use those two words to energize you and to envision them next to your name.  I believe in each and every one of you and I want you to know that no matter how this race plays out for each of you this Saturday I am proud of your efforts and your ambitions to attempt the unknown.

Now back to our normally scheduled program…

I’m a tad behind in the blog universe and after going on about this Saturday’s Hat Run 50K, I’m going to attempt to keep this short and sweet.  Last weekend was a good weekend.  Did the trail run in Washington Crossing where I finished with 6.66 miles the second time in my running story that this combination of a single number was presented to me, the other time was on my bib at the Revolutionary 10k Run, just across the bridge from where I was presently standing, very strange.  Sunday, I did a long run with a good group of runners we did 17 miles to give me a total of 23 for the weekend. 

This week has been pretty much a taper to help prepare for 31 miles this Saturday at the previously mentioned Hat Run.  I took Monday off, but did a 5 mile speed workout at the New Hope High School track.  I wanted to test the track out before committing to it for the next couple of months.  The track was very nice and as promised had two port-a-pots which is a great selling feature for any runner.  I took a few spins around the track, doing 1000 repeats with 400 rest laps in between.   The ride to the track was a nice scenic one, with not much traffic, but the downside being its 25 minutes away where Council Rock South is only 5 minutes.  I have not made up my mind completely on this track, still waiting to hear back from two closer options.  Wednesday was a Rest Day and tonight will be my last run before Hat, going to do a Hill Workout starting from Council Rock North at 6PM, come on out and join me.

Till we run into each other again…