Gearing Up For 50 miles

   Well...its been awhile since I've written an update, so here we go. The last time I gave any kind of update I was gearing up for Mad City 100k in April. Tarryn and I traveled to Madison, Wisconsin for the 100k National Championship. The short story is Madison is a beautiful city and the race director Tim Yanacheck puts on a great event.  The course is 10 10k loops around mostly a park with paved bike paths and some roads. I went out at goal pace (6:50's) and felt very comfortable running in 5th place until the 4th lap when I stepped off a curb awkward and strained my achilles tendon. Half way through the 5th lap it was hurting very bad and I was starting to favor my right leg. At the 50k mark I decided the potential further damage wasn't worth finishing, if I even could have in that condition.
   I took three weeks of slowly returning to training after the race and began getting ready for Yankee Springs Trail Run. They have a 10k Friday night, Marathon and Double Marathon on Saturday and Half Marathon on Sunday. The original goal was to go for Max Kings' Marathon course record from last year, he ran all three days. A couple weeks before the race I found out my cousins open house was on that Saturday and I wouldn't pass that up. So...I signed up for the 10k and half marathon, with race entry provided by Wolfhound Racing, thanks Dave. On Friday my goal was to shoot for 37-38 minutes and go hard on Sunday. I felt that I ran a conservative effort and won in 36:52. Having had switched to 3rd shift a couple weeks prior I stayed up all night, and the next day! By the time I was tired it was time to get ready for the open house. We went and had a great time visiting with family. I finally went to bed around 8pm and was up at 4am to get ready for the half marathon. It was pouring ran that morning so I knew my shot at a "fast" time wasn't going to happen. We arrived a little late and I took off for a warm up. On my return I saw everyone standing at the starting line! I picked up the pace and joined the crowd. Three seconds later I was off again for the start. The race was smooth but I was all alone from the gun. I just ran my own race and tried to stay focused. The race quit around four or five miles in and I cruised in for win number two for the weekend in 1:24:34. I needed that for a confidence boost coming back from the injury.
   Currently I'm focused on Dirty Burg 50k on July 12th as part of my work up to North Country Trail Run 50 mile August 23rd. I'd really like to run sub 6:40 for North Country but we'll see how training goes. I'm still adjusting to working 3rd shift and doing long runs in the dark but its working so far. Other than being so scared by a skunk that I almost sprayed him and the occasional raccoon or deer its pretty calm at night, and much cooler. I'm excited for the rest of the year and am considering signing up for the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile championship in San Francisco December 7th. I'm sure I'll run other shorter races this year but those are the big ones. I'm grateful for my sponsors Wolfhound Racing and UltrAspire. I definitely utilize my UltrAspire hydration gear, Inov-8, and Recofit Compression. Thanks for reading and get out there and run!