Next Post will be from the States.

Sunday, I'll be running in the Blues Cruise 50k.  That's in Pennsylvania.  In the United States.  Where it'll be cool.

The forecast for today in Santa Cruz calls for 97 degrees with sun.  I guess we officially entered Spring sometime in the last week or so, but 97 is a bit out of hand.  The 10 day forecast puts partly cloudy and 58 for the high on race day in Reading PA - that's absolutely perfect weather for running.

Not sure how the race will go.  I put together the image above so that I could compare the elevation profile of a course I know well (Bella Vista in green) with the approximate route of the race (Blues Cruise in blue) on Sunday.  The vertical scales are the same and each segment represents about 15.5 miles.  In the case of the blue lines, the top represents the approximate first half and the bottom the second half.

Obviously, my Bella Vista run involves long steady climbing, but the second half of the Blues Cruise course is repeatedly punctuated by short steep climbs.  Many are steeper than anything I've been training on regularly.  Were this race run in the opposite direction, I'd know precisely how to run it, but because the easy miles come first, I have no idea.

Assuming the trails aren't too muddy, I'll suppose I'll run the first few miles on a pace which would set an insignificant marathon PR.  I know I can crack 3:30 at the distance on the road now and expect that 3:15 isn't out of the question.  I logged a bunch of miles this year with the hope of running a low 3 hour marathon in November, I'll call on those miles during the first half of this race.

This is an "All-In" strategy.  I'm hoping to log good miles in the first half of the race and then hang on in the second to get to 4:30.  The problem with this approach is that there is a tremendous opportunity to blow up in the second half and fail to reach my race goals entirely (sub 5 hours, smile, sub 4:30).

We shall see, now it's time to pack.  I'll get a short run in this afternoon in the heat, tomorrow is a day off spent in an airplane then Thursday I'll get out for a quickie on the beach in Ft Lauderdale and hop a plane to Vermont. Looking forward to some foliage, a good race and some quality time with the family.  Hopefully VT will even grant my request and provide a bit of snow while I'm there...

Thanks for reading, and try not to over analyze.
Jay

Quick note re: Changing Plans

So, Irene came and went and left my wonderful home state a wreck.  Couple with that a real jones to get home and I have decided to travel north at the end of September.  That makes a big change to the schedule and asks a pretty serious question.

• No marathon PR attempt in November.
• What do I do with all of this base?

Turns out a very good, very old friend of mine is running (his second) ultra marathon on October 2nd.  I'm going to be jumping in with him, the Blues Cruise 50K.  Here's a link to the website, which is quite a bit out of date.

I don't have many expectations as far as the race itself is concerned, but I'll lay out a couple of goals.

1. Go under 5 hours.
2. Smile.
3. (Stretch) 4.5 hours.

I think all 3 are attainable, but am confident in only #2.  We'll see.  Should be fun.  I'll also be running this race in my five fingers.  I had wanted to run the marathon in November in them, but this'll have to do.
Thanks for reading and be sure you always have a stretch.
Jay

Guess I've gotta come clean

Ever since crossing the finish line at Run Rabbit Run last year and thinking to myself, "I could actually keep going," I've been thinking about doing a 100.  I haven't said much about it (here) because I haven't really wanted to say anything "permanent".

However.

Monday my wife accepted a new position with a new institute.  In fact, she's the boss.  Now we are one hundred percent set for the next several years.  When we moved, we'd hoped that she'd get set up with a job like this one sooner, but she just needed a bit more time.

This means I've got time to run.

Look at that buckle...

Today I was looking at the website for the Keys 100, an ultra that starts in Key Largo and goes to Key West.  I first came across this race when Googling for "Florida Ultras" some time back and I mentioned it to an old friend - Running Moose.  They haven't opened registration for next year's race yet, but I'll be one of the first entrants for sure.  Hopefully he will be too - I haven't seen Mr. Moose since High School...

Anyway, the reason I mention all of this stuff is that I was reading race reports this morning from the 2010 race and came across the wiki of Jonathan Savage, 2010's Keys 100 winner.  He's got a report from the race, but his wiki has so much more.  Really useful stuff for runners.

So now I have 2 race goals for the coming year.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe out there.
J