Monday, October 4, 2010

Black Dog 50 - this Saturday

Saturday is the annual Black Dog 50, a 50 mile run through western WI.

I can not wait! It's a day filled with beauty, outdoors, trees, leaves, trail, dirt, hills, roots, sweat, sun, wind, rivers, streams, and lots of good time with running friends.

Am I prepared? Nope. Does it matter? Not really.

It's strange; at this stage in my running life, I can (knock on wood) run 50 miles a lot more easily than 5.

I think this could sound proud, but it really isn't. Most of the ultra runners I know could say the same thing and not be saying it boastfully.

I've developed a mindset to running that is so completely different than when I was running marathons. It's a mindset of enjoyment first, appreciation second, priorities third, endurance fourth and speed way, way, way down the list. It's an attitude that enables one to think at mile 5:

"Well, the day is young, the run is young. I will experience incredible things throughout the day that will change me, even if ever so slightly. But I know that when I'm done, I will be more appreciative of family, friends, and my health. I need to run right now in such a way that I don't short-change the potential experiences that I will experience in 5 hours or in 9 hours. Enjoy. Take it in. Don't run without experiencing as much as possible right now."

So, how am I preparing? I'm doing sit ups this week. I'll eat some spaghetti on Friday. I'll make my run checklist. I'll buy food and supplies on Friday sometime, including lots of Coke. And I'l try to go to bed early.

Can you join us? Can you join us for a section of the run? Please join us: you can do more than you think you can!

2 comments:

Kate said...

I'm still a brand new runner, but something interesting happened on the trail last week. Our running club coach had run back to me for the last mile of our planned workout last week. I'm always bringing up the rear. And I'm totally okay with that.

And as we were slowly getting there a woman ran the crosspath and I said to my coach, "That woman runs like me! Slow!" And she said, "Yes. That's because she runs at least 50 miles at a time." And I thought, "Wow. That could be me someday!"

So exciting. Can't wait to hear about your race.

NJ said...

Wish I could have joined you all! All my Saturday and Sunday mornings are spoken for until November 21st. Maybe next year! I plan to be ready for the early spring run though!

Sounds like you had a great time!