I remember my first marathon…1996…Houston….the pain was incredible… I couldn’t walk for a week without extreme pain. I remember my second marathon…2001….Oklahoma City….yep….took 7 years to forget about the suffering…and at the end of number 2 told my wife, “DON’T EVER LET ME DO THAT AGAIN!!!”
In 2007, I had ballooned up to 194 lbs…and probably had about 25% body fat…Dave the Doughboy…and found myself on the couch watching the White Rock Marathon…Nope…not ever doing that again…never say never!!!....and 3 months later was training for my first 50 mile Ultra….what part of that “Don’t ever let me do that again did I forget? Furthermore…This was 2 marathons back to back…non stop…and frankly I really do not know what ever possessed me to even consider doing this…and really…mentally…I just could not wrap my head around it…Just couldn’t…14 months later…from the point of being a couch doughboy…to completing my first 50 mile ultra…DONE!...now what…oh…let’s do another one and 7 months later…the second 50 mile ultra DONE!...In fact that year I ran two 50 milers and two 50K’s (31 miles)…a far cry from 194 lbs…and swearing…”I would never do that again!”
The question always arises with my ultra buddies…when are you going to run your first 100 miles? And once again…I JUST CAN’T GET MY MIND AROUND IT! It’s a 100 miles…it will take somewhere in the neighborhood of running for a 24 hours…straight…and so I find myself mentally where I was 2 years ago.
My running buddy, Jennifer Kimble ran her first 100 miles at Rocky Racoon…and did it in under 24 hours. She once posted a list of Ultra Runner quandaries. One said, “You know you’re an Ultrarunner if you are in better shape than you think you are.” Yep…that sums it up…I am in pretty good shape…but Ultra shape….100 mile ultra shape…NO!...not right now…yep, I think I can currently run for 5 hours…but it won’t be pretty….and so…I pulled up the Rocky Racoon 100 mile Ultra website…8 ½ months away…that’s it…oh…I have been planning on this…even have talked to people about crewing and pacing…and have about 90% of that in place…even with backups…But it’s that mind thing again…8 ½ months…that’s all the time I got…not so much the physical…It’s the mental part that will take that long to prepare…and so I run on…and yes…the Hotter N Hell 100 bike ride is still on…just to put your mind at rest…
In 2007, I had ballooned up to 194 lbs…and probably had about 25% body fat…Dave the Doughboy…and found myself on the couch watching the White Rock Marathon…Nope…not ever doing that again…never say never!!!....and 3 months later was training for my first 50 mile Ultra….what part of that “Don’t ever let me do that again did I forget? Furthermore…This was 2 marathons back to back…non stop…and frankly I really do not know what ever possessed me to even consider doing this…and really…mentally…I just could not wrap my head around it…Just couldn’t…14 months later…from the point of being a couch doughboy…to completing my first 50 mile ultra…DONE!...now what…oh…let’s do another one and 7 months later…the second 50 mile ultra DONE!...In fact that year I ran two 50 milers and two 50K’s (31 miles)…a far cry from 194 lbs…and swearing…”I would never do that again!”
The question always arises with my ultra buddies…when are you going to run your first 100 miles? And once again…I JUST CAN’T GET MY MIND AROUND IT! It’s a 100 miles…it will take somewhere in the neighborhood of running for a 24 hours…straight…and so I find myself mentally where I was 2 years ago.
My running buddy, Jennifer Kimble ran her first 100 miles at Rocky Racoon…and did it in under 24 hours. She once posted a list of Ultra Runner quandaries. One said, “You know you’re an Ultrarunner if you are in better shape than you think you are.” Yep…that sums it up…I am in pretty good shape…but Ultra shape….100 mile ultra shape…NO!...not right now…yep, I think I can currently run for 5 hours…but it won’t be pretty….and so…I pulled up the Rocky Racoon 100 mile Ultra website…8 ½ months away…that’s it…oh…I have been planning on this…even have talked to people about crewing and pacing…and have about 90% of that in place…even with backups…But it’s that mind thing again…8 ½ months…that’s all the time I got…not so much the physical…It’s the mental part that will take that long to prepare…and so I run on…and yes…the Hotter N Hell 100 bike ride is still on…just to put your mind at rest…
6 comments:
Thats just crazy, I cant even phatom a 50miler, let alone 100. My hats off to you
Tomorrow is National Ride of Silence, its a nationwide ride that do to remember the lives of bikers that lost their life while on their bike. Every state is doing it at the same time, if your interested, go check it out and ride, its free, 12 miles and slow pace, its all about paying respect.
http://www.rideofsilence.org/locations-domestic.php?s=TX#TX
It's like getting married or having a kid: if you wait until you feel 100% ready to do it, you'll NEVER do it.
For what it's worth, knowing your name is on a start list is tremendous motivation to find some training time.
Poeple like us who say "NEVER AGAIN" always do it again...and raise the bar when they do!!
100 miles in the heat of Hell on A FIXED GEAR. You are a freak...:)
Haha I like what Donald said. Anyway you have built up this body of yours the last 7 months through core workouts, boot camps and other strength training activities. Now you are pedaling a fixie. When your mind finally gets around to it, it has a great body to handle all the training miles and the 100 at RR.
If you're gonna wrap your brain around a 100 miler then Rocky's the one to do! Fantastic race, fantastic people, fantastic course! I will definitely be there for the 50 miler! MY brain don't wanna wrap around that 100 mile distance yet! Kudos, my friend!
1. You think too much
2. My avatar pic is from RR100
3. You will not drop at Dam Rd aid station
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