one thing i said i would never have any desire to do was run an ultramarathon. i was pretty adamant about this too. the time constraints, the mind-blowing proportions of running more than 26.2 miles, it all just seemed like something that would never appeal to me.
well…..
you know where this story is going, right? mom’s theory once again holds true. this weekend i registered for the stump jump 50k trail race (that’s 31 miles!!!) in chattanooga on october 2. i think i am crazy, but i’m committed. i paid the fee and i am going to try to do it.
i blame two people for this. first, christopher mcdougall. i read his incredible book born to run about the tarahumara tribe and ultrarunning and i thought i really like the sound of this. i really want to do this.
the second person i blame is javi d, marketing manager for team in training in georgia and himself an ultrarunner (on twitter at @areyouin.) after i cooked up this hair-brained idea, i ran it by javi and instead of discouraging me, he basically through gasoline on the fire, convincing me it would be no trouble at all.
so here i am, registered for a 50k.
this weekend, after our gts for the san diego marathon, i went into the big peach and bought a pair of brooks cascadia 5s for the dirt.
my third enabler then suggested that the best thing we could do was absolutely go break them in. so lisa and i headed to the sope creek trails at the chattahooche and ran for a full hour, logging almost six miles in the glorious mud.
and i loved it. loved it. there is something so fun about running through the woods. it’s primal maybe, although that word is overused. perhaps what i mean is running on dirt is connected to the earth in a primitive way that a road never will be.
and it’s childish. it brought back memories and visions of running through the woods behind my house in oakton, va as a kid, getting muddy and not caring a bit.
so i am in. bring on the trails, bring on the 50k. after that who knows.
as my mom would say, i really ought to never say never.


