

So 5 weeks to drop 1:07 off my longer run pace is "a good month". Last week I did an 8 mile run (not as my "long run", either) at a 10:00 pace. My run pace has dropped pretty dramatically in this time - on Dec 15th I did a 9 mile run at an 11:07 pace. Especially since prior to that, I was getting in single-digit run weeks. I'll wind up with 87 miles for the month - for me, that's a pretty good month. One day left, but overall I'm getting in 4 - 6 runs a week, and I peaked at 30 miles for the week. Is the economy back on track? Well, some folks think that the RV industry leads the country OUT of a recession, and I can tell you that it sure as heck lead us INTO the recession as well! People are buying RV's again, that's all I know, and that's a good thing. So I packed up my gear - just my Camelbak Delany DC This whole thing was such an unknown to me, however, I don't know, it just didn't seem fair to go out there and run-walk when my agenda was something other than helping out another runner. A last minute suggestion was a good one - go and pace someone at the Long Haul 100 mile Ultra being held about 30 min from my house. Seemed a bit excessive - so in my infinite wisdom, I decided to do a self supported, lonely 50k right here in Flatwoods, 20 min from my front door. I had a couple of choices - Gator Ultra and Everglades Ultra both had 50k runs, but Gator was a 2.5hr drive away, and the Everglades Ultra wanted $155 to go run. Now I've also read that there's not much reason to have a long run much longer than 20 miles, a plan I like a whole lot better - but I really wanted to some point of reference under my belt before February. So I signed up for Iron Horse 100k Ultra (Feb 18) back in November, and most of the sample training programs say that, at a minimum for a 62-mile run, you should really do half of that at some point before the race. I signed up for an event - perhaps a bit overreaching, but you all know the way these things work - you have to put an event on the calendar. So how do you complete an Ultra? I really had no idea, 12 or so weeks ago when I first started getting the itch.
