Thursday, January 10, 2008

Off to meet the challenge of my first 50 miler run

Well.. it's due time I hit the distance of which the Ultra community finally considers a race to be an Ultra, 50 miles in one shot.

I've worked hard to get here, especially emotionally, but feel more than ready at this point. In fact I'm downright anxious. In less than 24 hours I will be heading out on a boat to Catalina where I will take on the Avalon50.
The traning has been ok but since the minor foot injury from CIM I did fall off my mileage charts for a while, but I am not to be dettered because I also believe that the mental and emotional challenge is just as hard as the physical training. I'm not going to talk about my goals here because one thing we all know is that it takes guts and determination to just toe the starting line of an adventure such as this; I must be honest that yes, I have other finishing goals but the only one I will mention is that I want to "Finish" and do so on my own two legs, everything else is a bonus.

Of note I will be running this with my running partner Kristen "Malibu". It will also be her first transcending to the world of Ultra running, though she will be leaving us for an undetermined amount of time to see the world Down Under as she will be traveling/living in Australia for a while... perhaps she will find both some Ultras and Aussie Rugby Players who look like Matt Damon and surf! Also aside from Kristen I will be running this with my new Ultra friends Jenny Henderson and Norm Haines who'm I met at Noble Canyon and worked the SD100 Sunrise Aid station with.
Joining us at the finish will be my numero uno cheerleader and favorite person.. My wife Leslie. She is coming out on the boat with Kristen's mom on Saturday morning to cheer us on and then join in the after party at the Casino.

I'm also realizing that I still need to pack all my gear but one thing for sure is that the "Green Lantern" from Wild Miles will be going with me on the first few miles until the sun-rises. And in case you're wondering what's on my iPod before a race like this it's Speed Metal, Acid Punk, and old school bronx style Rap.

Until next time Happy Trails friends and remember, we do this because we CAN.. and it's FUN

-JoeyB

1 comment:

Joey Bryan said...

Oh yeah I also had a story about my Nike FREE's that I was gonna post.. too late now they are now "Uncle Bill style Gardening shoes".

The short of it is that when I finish I'm gonna treat myself to a pair of Vibram Five Fingers and may even consider doing Surf CIty in them :) wouldn't that be fun and imagine the looks I'll get !!