Gonna Suck for Sure

Pardon the language but that is what comes to mind when I think about my event tomorrow:)

Finally back from the UK with a ton of pictures and a few stories, one of which I've already typed up for a future blog post. First things first though. I miss being with Mash and sharing a home with her but it is also good to be home. Home is home. These are my routes, my trails and my hills so to speak. I thoroughly enjoyed all those non-hilly miles in Regents Park in the gloomy, drizzly weather of London, in fact I have a special place in my heart for Regents Park now, but that experience is in sharp contrast to the sunny skies, warm weather and hills of San Francisco. The hills look bigger and I swear the Marin Headlands and Mt. Tam across the Golden Gate Bridge grew in size while i was gone. Then there's the heat… when did it get so warm? I went for an early afternoon run yesterday, to the bridge and back, and I was not comfortable.

I'm whining about being a bit unprepared for the Quicksilver 50-mile at San Jose's Almaden Park tomorrow. It's going to be warm, stinking hot for me and I'm not sure where my fitness lies. I've never started a year so unsure of my capabilities, so late in the year. Usually by this time I've already run a couple races and have some heat training under my belt. This time last year I was hitting the sauna and attending my spin classes with layers of long sleeve shirts, a lightweight shell and sometimes a beanie.

Ah well no use bemoaning what I don't have going for me. I did run well in London. It's gonna be hot, it's going to suck, it's going to be a long, long day but it's nothing I haven't experienced before. it could always be worse, it could be the Mt. Diablo 50-miler, 13,000 ft. of climb in 90+ degree weather. Quicksilver is perfect for kicking off my final preparations for the San Diego 100, might as well go big the first day of heat training:) Quicksilver's terrain and exposed trails is also similar to SD which is a huge plus.

It's going to hurt a bit but it will most likely be a great time with friends and a chance to reconnect with my inner ultra self, the part of me that has gotten me through to the finish of all of my races. A tough talking, motivating, no-nonsense but sometimes funny part of myself that keeps the wheels turning up here and down there. The part that is not scared of a DNF but fears that it won't do everything it can to prevent one. I'm not a front runner, I don't grace podiums. I just try my best to finish a race that I start.

So here's to tomorrow and when it gets to it's most difficult I will try to remember that I have to two friends, Dana Katz and Kara Teklinski, running their first 100-miler in Mt. Zion in 90+ weather. They started today and those ladies will still be going when we start Quicksilver tomorrow.

It can always be worse, there is always someone suffering more than me and next to my ultra personality stands one that likes to whine and bitch who needs to shut up so I can put up. Deep down, I love this!