Photo from Mount Royal, Frisco, Colorado.

"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Why not 100 miles?



I was running yesterday morning while I thought it over. I feel like I can run forever on trails. I get injured when I run fast on roads. Copenhagen Marathon costs 600 kr. I have free entry to Salomon Hammer Trail100 Miler.

It takes only 4 hours to get to the start. SR is okay watching the kids. The trails are gorgeous and challenging. Therer are 25km, 50km, 50 mile and 100 mile races. As long as I am making the trip, I figure I should take full advantage. This is why at noon on Friday, I will be standing at the start line of my first 100 mile race.


Lately I have heard podcasts with Casper Wakefield and Moses Løvstad, where they go into great detail about coming through crises in ultras; not to mention Jacob Juul Hastrup's book, Ekstremløberen. I found myself intrigued and inspired by the mental aspect of running really long ultras. I have run 100 miles over 3 days (at 3 Days of Syllamo) and 50 miles 6 times - but this weekend will be something else.

And I have a feeling it is going to be awesome. It is not about getting faster or winning. It is about an experience of a lifetime. 

Edit - live updates from the race will be here: http://www.tejnif-lob.dk/ (I guess some people are going to be wearing a live update armband).
More pics
Photo: Allan Lyngholm

Photo: Jacob Vestergaard

Oh, and while I'm "blubbering" (thanks, Olga ;o)) - check out something I spent a lot of time writing. It's about this history and safety of the pregnant marathon:

12 comments:

Danni said...

Exciting! What's the elevation profile like?

sea legs girl said...

Good question. I guess it was about 4000 meters last year, but they have made some major changes to the route to include more trail, I have heard, so I'm not sure what it is this year. I'll have to ask around.

Olga said...

WOOHOO!!! I am so thrilled for you! So unexpectedly and awesomely thrilled!

SteveQ said...

Jumping into a first 100 and finishing is possible - I did it at Zumbro - but you have to be in the right mindset. It's not like shorter races; you have to go into it confident and determined to finish, or somewhere (usually between 70 and 85 miles) you'll talk yourself into quitting. Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Oh this is exciting! I would say sort of the same thing as Steve--just decide beforehand how much pain/potential injury you want to risk and then stick to that during the race, even though later in the race you may be trying to talk yourself out of finishing for fear of injury.

I haven't checked out the race website yet but I hope they have a live tracking feature so Divesh and I can follow along while you're running!

-Alicia

amy said...

Exciting and fun times! Like Steve said, just be determined to finish when you line up. I have all the faith in the world that you will!

Karen said...

Good luck!!

Jill Homer said...

Wow, as in this week? That is deliciously crazy. Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Du er for sej! Jeg hepper på dig og glæder mig til at se dig i aktion :) Rigtig god tur og held og lykke :)

Fast Bastard - World's Fastest Hematologist said...

SLG is looking good at 58K. You can follow the race via facebook updates here:

http://www.facebook.com/trailloeberen?hc_location=timeline

and here:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/216709145023067/?fref=ts

Here's a pre-race interview, if anyone is interested in hearing her infamous Danish/Midwestern accent:

http://vimeo.com/65398860

SteveQ said...

She was the first female finisher and under 24 hours! Congrats, Sea Legs Girl (I say skip the sub-3 marathon and try for the national 100K or 24 hour teams)

SteveQ said...

Make that 29:10 (I read a split time for the finish) - still better than my fastest trail 100.