Monday, November 12, 2007

Ultracentric looms

Ultracentric, the 24-Hour Race, which also serves as the qualifier to be on the US National Team, is this Saturday. I am extremely excited, strangely confident and ready to run.

Timing for this race will be done by a company whose website can be found HERE. I am unsure if they will keep updated stats as the day goes on (and on and on) but please feel free to check in on me anytime you want. Chances are I will also check my cell phone a few times during the day, so go ahead and say hello as well.

I am a little perturbed the decent predicted temperatures of mid 60s from last week have given way to mid-to-high 70s this week. Damn it! I am only hoping that running at a much slower pace will mean that the sun won’t sap me as much. And hey, it isn’t the 98 degrees of the North Face 50k or 90 plus of the Old Dominion 100.

That said, I guess my confidence comes from my hard fought war this year with crappy racing conditions as well as my performance at the Presque Isle Endurance Classic in 2003 (84 miles; a total which no one has come close to matching in the 4 years it has been run since). (Pre and post race photos below. the first being me not knowing what I was getting myself into.)







Regardless, that b.s. aside I am feeling good. Will I reach all of my goals? I rarely do mostly because I set so many that are usually out of my reach. But I am ok with that.

The clock keeps ticking and I am ready to run.

14 comments:

  1. Hi Dane,

    As a fellow runner, MCRRC member & blogger, I'd like to invite you to petition Digg for a separate running category (under the "Sports" heading). This will help you & other bloggers gain increased exposure for your running blog, as well as give the sport of running even more visibility.

    All you have to do is digg the below 2 articles. If you're feeling particularly writerly, you can also email feedback@digg.com & let them know you'd like to see this new category.

    And while you're at it, you might want to add Digg buttons to the bottom of your posts (in the post header area), so that people can Digg your articles & help give your blog the increased exposure it deserves. ;-) If you need help creating these buttons, I'd be happy to give you instructions on how to do it.

    I'd also like to invite you to join the running group, "Runners, Runners, Everywhere!" at BlogCatalog.com. Although there are a zillion blogging directories & other such web communities, I have to say that Blog Catalog is one of the best blogging communities around. People are friendly (& not stalkerish!), & there are lots of other runners & athletes with blogs who share information about various topics. It's a great community & I hope you'll consider joining!

    Look forward to meeting you at some point. This year, I plan to run the Rockville Twilighter 8K & possibly also the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler & Pike's Peek 10K! Hope to see you there!

    Sincerely,
    -Corey

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  2. Yeah, Corey, you are going to have to walk me through whatever the hell you are talking about here!

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  3. Whoops, I forgot to include the links for you to Digg. They are as follows:

    http://seecoreyrun.blogspot.com/2007/11/calling-all-runners-bloggers-help.html

    http://seecoreyrun.blogspot.com/2007/11/my-letter-to-diggcom-running-category.html

    Thanks in advance for your help & participation!
    -C

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  4. So, let's start off with first things first: Are you familiar with Digg.com? ;-)

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  5. Not particularly. Please email me:
    danerunsalot@yahoo.com

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  6. Good luck at the race, Dane. Charlie will be pleased that you are finally doing a race in which you will probably take some walk breaks!! I hope it goes as you wish.

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  7. All right, I know it's hard to believe, but I've revised my thinking. No walk breaks, Dane. If you can do 84 in 12, you don't need no freakin' walk breaks. Plus you showed at MCM that you could hang at heart-thumpin' pace without even thinkin' of slowing down. But could you please just promise to JOG every so often at the 24 Hr.? :)

    Seriously, throw down the Hammer and win the thing; best of luck qualifying for the US Team...

    FYI, Richmond was cold and windy, but alot of fun. I took walk breaks every 2 miles, finished in 3:14, feel great. Sub-3 unlikely to ever happen (I'm too old to change my walk-break ways), but there's always next year's downhill Mile to look forward to!

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  8. So, Dane, what are those goals for ultracentric? I find sharing goals for big races helps me feel accountable and is one more tool at my disposal when things get rough late in an ultra.

    Regardless, best of luck. Eat and drink early and often.

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  9. Go get 'em, Tiger. I'll be waiting at the airport ;-)

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  10. Trail,

    Good motivation tool. I don't usually need that per se but it never hurts.

    The main goal is to run at the very least 130 miles. that is the minum mileage allowed to be slected for the 24 Hour Team. Every other goal will be based on conditions and other runners. But I have to get that one in order to be satified.

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  11. Good luck this weekend, Dane. I feel very humble only running 26.2 this Sunday.

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  12. is that a camera I see? hmmmm....

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