Six Days and Counting

Today should have been the finish of the AC100. Instead, I went for a six mile hilly run. At 8 o'clock in the morning I had a nice semi-circle of sweat soaking through my bra and I was thinking,"Man, it is hot already!" Yesterday would have been a long HOT day out there.

Today I got word that Angeles Crest was rescheduled for August 28th, 2010 and all of this year's entrants are in for next year. I can't say that I love that the race has been moved a month earlier - that should guarantee scorching heat for race day. How about moving the race a month later, huh? Why didn't anybody think of that?!? Personally, I think it is because Western States has had a couple of really hot years lately and the race directors want to make sure AC100 maintains its "Tougher Course" status. But if I was looking for an oven run, I'd sign up for Badwater - no, thank you!

My original goal for AC100 was "26 to 28 hours, but hopefully closer to the former." When I mentioned this to one of the AC100 race directors (hoping he could hook me up with a pacer), he was super polite, but he told me not to be "overly ambitious" or "set myself up for failure." The funny thing is, I thought that was a well-thought out and very conservative time. My formula included walking all 39 miles of uphill (3 mph = 13hrs, to me this was the most ambitious part), and running the rest (25,000' cumulative downhill in 62 miles!) at a mere 5 mph (12.4 hours), plus 30 minutes of stoppage/leeway = 25:50. (for a 28 hour finish the downhill running would be at 4.3 mph and still have a 30 minute "buffer").

So now I am left trying to figure out paces for Hundred in the Hood. The flatter and more runnable course actually scares me a bit more because it feels like it doesn't have the same built- in walk breaks. Hood100 just doesn't seem to lend itself as much to math formulas. And I feel like I have more uncertainty: How often will I need to walk? What running pace can I maintain for 100 miles? How detrimental will it be to not have a dedicated crew (like I would at AC100)? I would very much like to get under the 24 hour mark, but mostly, I feel like I am guessing. So I am planning for 22 hours, but saying "plus or minus two hours" in my mind - not exactly precise! Mostly, if I make it to the finish I'll be psyched.

Six days and counting...