Run Luau Run

A little less than a year and a half ago I crossed the finish line of the Vermont 50 – fifty miles through the mountains of Vermont.

It.

Was.

Miserable.

When I crossed the finish line in just over eleven hours, I made a bee-line for my buddy Doug (the guy who had convinced me this was a good idea) and yelled a string of expletives at him.  I was never going to do this again, I concluded.

Ultra-Marathon could now be checked off on the bucket list – time to move on.

Never again.

…

About a half hour later, I looked over at Doug and said something along the lines 0f, “you know, if we had actually done any kind of training before this, we probably could have gone sub-10:00.”  I started thinking of doing it again the following year.

As life will often do, scheduling got in the way and I could not participate in last year’s Vermont 50.  I told Doug that 2013 would be the year of the sub-10.  I hadn’t signed up for any marathons save New York City, so I planned on putting in some miles early and then getting serious about training over the summer.

Then #AutismStreaks began.  My mileage through seven and half weeks hasn’t been huge, but I do feel like my legs are coming back – I may be slower than I once was, but I still enjoy time on my feet.  Earlier this week I went running with my Super Sunday 5 running buddy JB.  He is probably one of the easiest people to run with.

Yesterday he posted this on Facebook:

JB’s Facebook Post…

***

After Vermont and my experience at Around the Lake earlier that July, I swore I would never run a 100-miler until I had the ability to cover that distance in 18 hours or less.  It wasn’t a speed issue, rather it was I had come to dislike racing at night.  Around the Lake was miserable, absolutely miserable.  The idea of running through the night, which, at my speed, I would have to do to cover 100 miles, did not appeal to me at all.  I knew that at best I could maybe cover 100 miles in 24 hours, under ideal conditions, and the laws of time and space dictate that if that is the case, I would have to run through the night.

Nope.  I wasn’t ever going to do that.

Wasn’t.

Going.

To happen!

***

To humor myself I clicked on the link – what kind of craziness was JB getting into?  100 miles?  He’s crazy!  Trail running madman he is.  That’s just…oh, hey, look – it’s relatively local…and it’s flat…only 3000 feet of climb for the whole 100 miles…what was Vermont?  over 9,000 feet over 50 miles?  that’s six times the elevation per mile…and, whoa! $60???  that’s CHEAP!!!

I shook my head.  What the HELL was I thinking???

No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!!!

I left JB a comment: Are you entered?

JB: Yes sir.

Me:  Do you have a goal time?  WHY THE HELL WAS I ASKING??? And is 3000 climb for 100 miles or for 25 miles? STOP ASKING HIM QUESTIONS!!!

JB: its for the 100, and I think finishing would be a great goal! its pretty damn flat

My response?  I am not actually considering a 100-miler…I am not actually considering a 100-miler…I am not actually considering a 100-miler…

***

Over dinner I mentioned to Jess that I might be thinking about running the TARC 100 – I began with I know I said I would never do one of these things, but you know, it’s relatively local and it’s flat, and JB and Doug are running it and it’s really, really inexpensive and I know I said I would never do one of these things but…

She looked at me as she interrupted me, You know how when I tell you I’m going to buy a pair of boots and I start to come up with all kinds of reasons why I “need” them when I really don’t and you roll your eyes as if to say just go buy them?  I’m rolling my eyes…you’re nuts, but go ahead.

90 minutes later, this happened:

…what have I done?

GAH!!!

On the bright side, if I’m still #AutismStreaking at this point (I believe it would be day 165) that will be a lot of Charity Miles!