Five: Obsess

Sometime soon they are supposed to announce whether we will be using the regular Western States course or a modified snow course. So I checked the website four times just in case they may have posted it there before they send the info to runners in an e-mail. I can't tell you how many times I checked my e-mail.

I have also been keeping a careful eye on the weather, checking not just the forecasts for Auburn but also for Squaw Valley. Did you know the predicted high for Saturday in Auburn has gone up three degrees in the last five days? Yeah, well I did. Not good because I still can't get past 35 minutes in the sauna. Today I bailed at 25. The only bright side is that the forecast is nowhere near 180 degrees, so I am hoping I'll tolerate race conditions better than the hot box.

And most of my conversations seem to be about running 100 miles these days. Maybe that's because I try to slip it into every conversation. My water cooler talk goes something like this:

Innocent co-worker: Doesn't it suck that it is June and it is only 57 degrees?

Me: Yeah, well I am certainly going to be wishing it were 57 this weekend while I am running the 100 mile Western States Endurance Run where it will probably be close to 100 degrees in the canyons.

Innocent co-worker (so completely disinterested and walking away): Yeah, well, I wish we could get some of that heat up here.

Ok, maybe not that obnoxious, but you get the idea.

Last night Mac asked me, "So what percentage of your time do you spend thinking about Western States right now."

"87.9%," I answered immediately.

"Hmmm... I got the impression that it was higher than that," Mac replied.

"Oh, well it is when I am not working and the kids are asleep."

Needless to say, the event is looming large in my mind!!