On the Horizon...

Big news!

Most of my best ideas originate with my better half, and once again this is the case.  I hadn't planned on making any attempts at an ultra until next Spring, but Christina happened to notice an email about a different sort of race coming up this November, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity, so I am now officially signed up to run the 6-hour race at Miles for Maria in Kennesaw, GA, this November.

Charging Ahead

It's a bit of an aggressive step, but I think it will be awesome for a number of reasons - 

• It's a timed race, so rather than having to cover any particular distance, I just have to stay on my feet shuffling forward for 6 hours straight.  No doubt this won't be easy, but I've been on 4-hour runs before, so it's not that tremendous of an extension.  Also, since I don't have to cover any particular distance, I can walk or jog when I feel like it, and run faster when I feel the zip, without the psychological sting of seeing everyone else disappear over the horizon.
• It's after my next Marathon, so it won't disrupt my current training plan or put any extra pressure on any other running goals.
• It's the first edition of this particular race, which means if I win, I get a de facto course record!  Whether or not that's any kind of possibility obviously depends on who else signs up for the event...  I'm not necessarily planning to run competitively at the front; I'm hoping I can average a 10' pace for 6 hours, which means I should race up at least 36 miles.  If I can get that done, I'll have a lot more confidence as I begin to prep for the Sweet H20 50k in April.

The Ultra Running Wannabe is only three and a half months from actually becoming an ultra runner!

Setting Goals

One of the things that has sucked me deeper and deeper into a running addiction is the quantitative aspect - as you train and progress over time, you can gauge improvements in your pace, in your distance, in the frequency of your runs.  I certainly wouldn't say that I'm a Type-A personality, but I do love planning, calculating, and projecting, so the idea of setting targets and measuring my progression is an aspect of running that I most definitely haven't burned out on yet.

I can also acknowledge that I'm in the very early stages of my running life - I've only been running with any sort of consistency for approximately 2 years at this point.  With that being the case, I realize that the fantastic, rapid progress I'm making right now will slow down considerably as a do more races and come closer to the edge of whatever my natural physical potential might be.  I certainly can't count on making the same huge improvements from race to race over time - it's just a fact of life.

So with that in mind, I (like many runners, I think), have many tiered goals for my races and development, and ambitions that span many different timeframes.  I can say that for any race, I have public goals that I discuss with friends, and I have super-secret, super ambitious goals that I won't verbalize outside of my skull - never underestimate the power of superstition and juju.  So I'll post my public goals here, and when I finish races and post my reports, I'll share whether or not I managed to ace the race and fulfill my loftier targets.

Short-Term (the next few months)

I have races coming up this fall in every distance that I've run so far; for some of these races, it will be the first time I've competitively run the distances in nearly a year.  So with that in mind, my primary goal for the next few months is to PR in each distance from the 5k up to the Marathon.

5k: Atlanta's Finest 5k, 8/3/2013
       Current PR: 22:38

10k: Big Peach Summer Sizzler, 9/2/2013
         Current PR: 43:31

Half: Atlanta Half Marathon, 11/28/2013
         Current PR: 1:40:09

Marathon: Marine Corps Marathon, 10/27/2013
                    Current PR: 3:34:38
                    (Tier 2 goal: race sub 3:20:00)

My 10k time is a bit faster than the other three, as it was set on a nice downhill course, but even so, I think I have a pretty good shot at nailing this one.

Medium Term (next year or so)

My real goal in the next year is to crack into running ultra races.  I have two in mind in particular - the Sweetwater 50k trail race, and the Cremator 50 mile road race in Beaufort, SC.  Both entail some unique challenges - I'm not an experienced trail runner, and I've never done a distance longer than the marathon, so we shall see.  I have some training arcs in mind and some more specific time goals, but those will have to stay secret until I've actually finished one of these things and seen where my body can take me.

Long Term (you know, like a long time...)

I already have some 100 mile + ultras in my mental bucket list, and I hesitate to commit them to digital representation, but all lists have to begin somewhere, so within the bigger long-term goal of becoming a 100-mile ultra racer, I would specifically love to do the following:

• UTMB
• The Grand Slam of US Ultras
• Western States
• Vermont 100
• Leadville
• Wasatch Front
• Rim to Rim to Rim Grand Canyon Run

There are many more that I might add to the list, but I feel that taking it any farther than that at this point would be getting extremely carried away - exercise mental self-control!  Save it until you've actually run a 100-mile race!  Thinking about all of these epic courses is making me antsy... I think that means its time to go for a run.