Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The End of Racing (p. 1)

I've been looking forward to this day for quite some time now. I jumped into the ultra distance with so much enthusiasm that I ended up crashing and burning...out. For the past couple months or so, I've been dreading anything that had to do with the distance. I almost want to say it might have begun back in April right after the American River 50-Miler, but I was so into this subculture of running that I was in denial.

There were more races to run. And more I considered running. So I kept adding to the mileage. I did take a short two-week break over the summer with no running while in Japan, but with one final race, the Dick Collins Firetrails 50-Miler in October, I had to get some kind of run training in.

Before I go on, here's a brief recap of the races I ran this year...

Way Too Cool 50k (Norcal Ultras)
4:38
American River 50-Mile (Norcal Ultras)
7:53
Knickerbocker Canyon Half Marathon (Inside Trail Racing)
2:15
Quicksilver 50k (Quicksilver Running Club)
4:53
Skyline to the Sea 50k (Coastal Trail Runs)
5:50
Skyline 50k
4:50
Coastal 50k (Coastal Trail Runs)
5:50
Berkeley Trail Adventure 35k (Inside Trail Racing)
3:02
Dick Collins Firetrails 50-Mile (NorCal Ultras)
9:39