ultra

I've not been very disciplined since finishing my last 2007 race, which was the North Face Endurance Challenge in San Francisco. That was my first ultra, at a distance of 50k. I didn't bother with my usual semi-attention to calories over the holidays, and packed on a few pounds. Come January, my long runs involved stretches of walking, and were sporadically sprinkled in my "training schedule."
Weird. You wouldn't think I was trying to work up to 50 miles in April, as an attempt to qualify for the Western States 100, huh?

Dec 1st, my racing season finally ENDED! Originally, I set out to do a race per month, and ended up missing two months (April and August, grrrr hate the "A" months), but made it up to finish fifteen races. This year saw my first marathon in July.

And now, I'm an ULTRAMARATHONMAN. Dec 1st, I ran in the North Face Endurance Challenge, electing to do the 50k. The race took us over trails in the Marin Headlands, sometimes along the Dipsea trail, also along the Mi-wok trail.

I loved the advice Buzz Burrell has just handed out to a newbie runner on the Boulder TrailRunners list.

Buzz is a legend in trail running and ultra circles -- although I've heard him dispute the description on the grounds that it makes him feel like he died and nobody told him. He specialises in tackling long, hard, wet, cold, extreme runs that "normal" people would only attempt as part of a ten-person team with sherpas. He runs wearing normal trail running gear plus an extra bottle if conditions are really bad.

"Keep it simple"? He invented the phrase. We don't know what "harrach9" was expecting when he wrote...