In the beginning......

A blog about my quest for the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning....hmmmm.  I was never known for my writing skills and I was never a natural athlete.  And now here I am, sharing my thoughts about running four 100 mile runs this summer.  How did this all start?  In the beginning... somewhere in my love for the Wasatch mountains I started trail running (probably to keep in shape for backcountry skiing).  On a dare, I ran the Squaw Peak 50 miler in June 2003.  I had a blast and celebrated with a beer at the finish.  Near the finish I thought "could you continue on another 50 miles?".  The following January I was accepted into the Wasatch 100, but I told a fellow Ultra runner that I would only do Wasatch once.  Wasatch 2004 still leaves heartache in my soul....but it inspired me to do more.  In short, I completed the course, but ~15 minutes after the cutoff time.  "No buckle for you" still resonates in my head in a quirky Asian accent.  I now have 3 finisher buckles (proudly displayed in the above photo).

My training plan?  Well I had a fabulous winter skiing in the backcountry and at Alta.  My husband still kicks my butt on the uphill, but he has me convinced that breaking trail is the best training.  Skiing is the best cross-training for altitude plus weights with all the backcountry gear.  I also had a couple of cool runs.  I ran the Moab Red Hot 50+K in February and I went to the Grand Canyon for a non-race run with 3 friends in April (we ran ~45 miles South rim to North rim and back to the South rim in 14 hours.....with a stop for lemonade at Phantom ranch).  More about those runs in a later blog.... and I am sure that I will also insert some of Peter's amazing ski photos too!

Running Schedule: 

Bishop 50 mile  May 17

Squaw Peak 50 mile June 7

Western States 100 mile June 28-29

Vermont 100 mile  July 19-20

Speedgoat 50K July 26  ****possibly

Leadville 100 mile August 16-17

Wasatch 100 mile  September 6-7

My blog plan?  I will try to post 1-2/week.  I will write about the races before and after, strategies, equipment, and other info on Ultras.

#1 Here is some very basics.........................

So what is an Ultra?  Basically a distance longer than a marathon (26.2 miles).  Typical distances are 50k, 50 mile, 100K, 100 mile, and then there are ones much longer but I won't go there as 100 miles is long enough for me.  Most Ultras are on trails in the mountains.  In the mountains a runner has extra challenges by the beloved Mother Nature... such as wildlife, weather, and terrain with elevation changes (all of which I have stories to tell).   Sometimes there is a short section on pavement or gravel road which links the trails.  Training runs can be time consuming.  I don't have one of those GPS geek-o-meters, so I measure my runs in hours.  A short run is 2-3 hours and  a strong trainer is 4-5 hours.  A few times before Wasatch I will run up to 8 hours, which is about all I can do without support.

That's it for now.  This week I am cutting back in preparation for the Bishop 50 miler.

Carolyn