Well, that happened

Well my 2016 goal is set! Today was the registration for the Umstead 100 and I got in! After volunteering there on 3 different years, and getting 38 miles in the pacer pool last year, I knew I wanted to get registered for the full monty. This will be my first 100 mile trail ultramarathon.

holy shit. how am I actually going to run 100 miles by myself in under 30 hours?

Umstead 100 headquarters from the 2015 race

I guess I still have 29 weeks to hydrate and train. There is a basic outline of a training plan on the race web site. Blake Norwood, the race founder, wrote a "how to train for your first 100" piece that has become the bible for first timers. Plenty of time for long runs on back to back days. Plenty of time to grow out the trail beard. Plenty of time for night runs.

Right?

In preparation for this amount of stupidity I have lined up an entire fall of stupidity. To the tune of 3 full road marathons and 2 50 mile trail races. Of course these end in January, nothing yet lined up for February or March. I have to respect the distance. It's going to take some 70 mile weeks. It's going to take some 180 or even 200 mile months. My nutrition and body composition is going to have to stay on point through the winter, no getting fat this offseason like I normally do. And I'm going to have to do all of this while keeping the injuries at bay. I tell you, since I turned 40 a couple of months ago everything hurts all the time. it's kind of insane.

So I knew this day was going to come. I'm glad I was able to register, have the cash and the patience to get in. Let the insanity commence!

This year I get my own bib!