Sunday 102311

One of the things I have been mulling over is how casual I was in approaching that hundred last week.  There were perhaps a few benefits to such a lead up, but on whole it was rather stupid of me.

This ignorance theme is not a new one:  recognize the magnitude of what is being attempted but then dismiss it because the warnings are for those “other folk.”  Don’t hike from the rim to the river and back in a day.  I see that others that have done the Rim to Rim to Rim and there is little question in my mind as to whether I can do it.  Justin hit on a similar thought regarding a Gore Canyon rafting trip.  The rules are for those in society that need taking care of, not me.

100s ain’t easy,but when you hang in the circles I do, you can tend to be led into a false belief that they are.  Guys not only do them, but they do them well.  And they often do many of them.  And ho-hum they are back off the couch in a couple of days planning their next one.  Truth is if you are gonna do one: “You (I) can't hop into a 100 miler without some deep urge or desire to do it and finish.”

Arguably I was somewhat safe in my hundred stunt (a term I plucked from Lucho) because I could bail whenever, and I had a lot of people taking care of me.  And while I was not well prepared for it, I did have some 25 plus years of running to lean on.  And then another 15 years of walking experience on top of that. 

I sort of knew the whole thing would be hard, but I also had to quickly admit how “woefully underprepared” I was.  Realizing that, part of me elected to take my medicine as a lesson.  Which brings me around to this:  I am not sure if I will do another 100 or not.  I can see the allure and I am sure I could perform one better.  If I do another one, I am not going to do it like Boulder that again.  It will come with smarter preparation to assure better execution.

I have also mulled over what happened in the second half and have concluded there are at least four possible things that contributed to my melt down.
1.)  I went out too fast in the first half.
2.)  I did not fuel effectively in the first half and paid for that in the second half. 
3.)  I mentally caved.
4.)  I muscularly was shot from the waist down.

The reality is that it is probably a combination of all four of these things that lent to a second half in excess of 13 hours.  But, if I believe the largest factor is number 4.  I think that even if I had gone out at 12 minutes a mile for the first half, my lack of preparation with any sort of longer running would have come back to bite me in that second half.  I look forward to discuss that with fellow runners in miles to come.

This week was about recovery and I generally accomplished that.  I thought I would feel compelled to run at all, but the spirit moved me to – more from a head perspective than a leg perspective.  I am amazed actually at how quickly things have come back.  Sunday, post the race nap I was nearly unable to walk.  I feel pretty dang normal a week later.  That said, my gut is telling me I need to ease up on the beer consumption (quite the bender this week).

Today, was an easy dog jog, 5 miles.  I even saw the watch tick under 8 minutes a mile on occasion without any effort

A friend of mine hit this party vehicle last week: