August | 2017 | 48 peaks

“So, are you ready?”

This is the question that everyone is asking me. Are you ready? Do you feel prepared to take on your first 100-mile race, the Cascade Crest 100 miler?

I guess I’ll just answer here: I don’t fucking know.

I don’t feel unready, and yet, I don’t think I can ever feel really ready. I’ve never done this before. I’ve never tested myself in this way and I don’t honestly know if I can physically do it—which is one real reason why I am even trying to begin with.

I trained. I did a mix of training, mostly with medium mileage weeks. I did a lot of vert heavy hiking weeks. I rode my bike and added strength training. I ran some track workouts. I ran hill repeats.

I’ll post some of the highlights from my training summer:

Belknap range double traverse with Jeremy and Sky. 21 miles, 6k ft vert gain.
Mother’s Day 6hr. 21 miles for me…. Kerry’s first ultra!
Pacing Dani for 50 miles of her amazing 100 miler at Infinitus.
Having a great day at Worlds End Ultra 50k, getting over my first anxieties to smile and run free for the last marathon. I also nailed nutrition on a hot and humid summer day.
Presi Traverse hike. I have to do at least 1 per year. 19 miles, 9k ft vert gain.
Bike ride to Worcester with Jeremy.
Day hikes in the whites: Moosilauke, Twins/Galehead, Tripyramids, Franconia.
Brewery Bike tour with Ryan around Portland. Recreation is part of training, right?
Shopping Hike with Ryan the day after—22 miles, 8k ft vert gain, 3 shirts purchased and the Wild River Wilderness conquered
Crashing and burning on a 4 mile “easy” road run where I remember to give my body a goddamn break once in a while.
My hilarious Twins/Zealand/Hale 18 miler to break in new shoes that broke me instead.
Moriah- Carters- Wildcats traverse with Dani. 20 miles, 8k ft vert gain.
17 and 20 mile road runs just a few days apart.
Pacing Heather for 27 miles during her Eastern States 100 miler.

Okay, that’s not exactly the “highlights” and more like all of it. I am exhausted from this training cycle and enjoying my taper very much. I think about the race ahead often with mixed parts excitement and terror, but as far as do I think I need to train more? No. I think I am capable of running that distance and feel confident in my nutrition (which is easy because I apparently have an iron stomach). I’m mostly worried about my feet not lasting, and about pain from shoes. But at this point, I can just try my best to prevent those issues and see what happens.

I fly out next Thursday. The race starts 9am PST on Saturday August 26^th. Send me some good vibes, or rather send them to Jeremy so he can make me laugh when I need it.

And please get beers with me when I come back!