Wednesday, October 22, 2008

ultra...

So im not sure how it started but my running partner, Chris, and I started talking about how we missed doing trail runs... That conversation progressed to races...and what kind of races we liked and somehow the conversation ended that we both want to do the Leadville 100 trail run. For those that dont know the Leadville 100 is a 100 mile trail run that is considered an Ultra- meaning anything over the 26.2 miles, marathon distance. Not only that it is considered as one of the more difficult Ultra Marathons..because it is on trail and is at altitude...

Interestingly enough I had kind of decided in my mind that I wouldnt be doing a marathon for a while because the training is pretty significant and I had already done several. But for some reason this Ultra talk really got me considering it... Im not sure if it is just because I have never done one before but I have been thinking alot about it lately.

I was at work when I should have been working but what I was really doing was googling training schedules and race times for people who have done the Leadville 100.. The GOOD times for women that do the Leadville 100 are around 27hours... hmmm that really made me stop and think hmmm. Plus they said 75 percent of people that do the Leadville 100 have a pacer... So a pacer is someone who is not signed up for the race but they run the last..30-or so miles with the racer. This happens for a few reasons, you are running a significant distance an im sure by the time you get to 70 miles you are pretty delirious... there is a good chance it is dark at this time AND you probably need some serious motivation and cheering up at this point.

So based on all this I have been trying to convince my running partner that a 50 miler would be a much better choice for right now and we should train for a 50 and see how it goes. For some crazy reason...maybe it is a guy thing he thinks he should run this 100 miler.. Mind you this is a person... and im sorry Chris if you ever read this but it is true... seems to sign up for races and doesnt really train for the properly and ends up either A- dropping out or B- doing the race anyway but feeling completely miserable the entire time because he is not really trained.

I dont like to operate that way and I would feel much better committing to 50 miles to do on my own than 100 miles... who knows or maybe he will acutally get the gumption to train for the 100 miler and I will end up being HIS pacer..

Anyway...at this point im not sure what im going to do other than the fact that it intrigues me.. and Im not sure why. I had already decided I wasnt that interested in another marathon at this point...so why would my brain consider going even further...?

5 comments:

brookelmt said...

Since I thought I was going to have a heart attack or stroke at my trainer's last night, I think you are a looney for even talking about 50 miles let alone 100. It's things like this that make me feel like relaxing on my couch with a cup of coffee and a book.

EBKB said...

27 HOURS????

I think evolution kind of breezed over me when it came to the whole physical exertion thing. If I had been born 100 years ago I probably wouldn't have made it past 2 years old. You, on the other hand, not only would have survived, you would have given birth to about 30 babies.

runbarbirun said...

God FORBID...30 babies..i can barely handle 2

EBKB said...

Well, don't worry, if it was 100 years ago, only 2 of them would have survived.

brookelmt said...

And the 2 that did survive would be hard at work on the farm so you wouldn't have to be picking up after them and their toys so much.