The Weather! And, Race Goals
Well, that was different. After an extremely dry winter, we got absolutely dumped on with rain. It went from “What is this strange liquid falling from the sky?” to “Why is there so much of it? When is it going to stop? AHHHHHH!!!” The worst of it was just to the south of us- the Ft. Lauderdale airport was closed and schools were closed due to flooding. Cari reached out to me to ask if my race course was possibly in jeopardy. Wow- that would suck. To do all this preparation and then have the race canceled due to a bizarre weather event would be awful. I know, that happens to people. But my race is about an hour north of here, so barring any other weather disasters, we should be good. Now that the race is just over a week away, maybe it’s a good time to talk about goals. Since this is my first ultra, I don’t know what to expect, so maybe “goal” is the wrong word. Even “plan” seems too strong- let’s just call these “thoughts.” The race is a 50K on a trail, part of which is sandy. And hilly. The middle section is apparently rolling sand dunes (eep.) This is what makes it hard for me to predict how it’s going to go. I have trained on sandy trails, but not this specific trail. Soooo… Let’s say it takes me five hours to complete 25 miles. Another six miles, plus stopping at aid stations, plus the dunes (again, eep!) and I’m thinking a seven hour finish time. Maybe that’s too long, but I’m trying to factor in THINGS GOING WRONG. Or, maybe things will go more wrong than I think, and that’s too short. That’s okay! My only real goal is to finish before the cutoff time, which is nine hours. I also have a sub-goal, which is that I don’t want to be last. In the ultra world they refer to this as “DFL” (dead frickin’ last, or sub your own F word there.) There’s actually a lot of respect for the DFL, because that person was out there longer than anyone and probably worked the hardest to get to the finish. Still… I’d prefer that it not be me. I’m really excited for this race! I’m excited to run on a trail I’ve never seen before. When I signed up, I thought I would drive up there to do some training runs. But I decided to train closer to home (it’s hard enough to fit those long runs in without driving 2+ hours roundtrip) and let the new trail be part of the race adventure. I’m also, obviously, scared. I’m scared of the distance, the heat, the sand dunes, and of the fact that my left achilles decided to flare up again this week (of course it did!) My imposter syndrome is in full force- I picture showing up and everyone else will be seasoned ultra trail runners. I’m imagining keeping to myself as much as possible so I don’t have to talk and admit it’s my first ultra. I KNOW. That’s so stupid! I’m laughing at myself even as I’m writing this- but those are the thoughts I’m having. Well, I have one more week to freak out, check the weather incessantly, question my nutrition, question my training, and imagine that I’m getting sick. But I promise that I’m also super excited to get out there and run. It’s definitely going to be an adventure. Have you ever had a race canceled due to weather? If you’ve run an ultra, did you have a finish time goal?