This blog is intended for me, as a means to help zero in on the right attire, nutrition, etc. in preparation for an ultramarathon. So, most of my posts will probably be pretty dry & technical, but if that's interesting to you, feel free to drop by. I'd love to hear thoughts, advice, suggestions from other ultramarathoners.
I'm just rallying back from a broken toe I suffered in August 2010. I had decided to run the Pine Mountain 40 as my first ultra, but 2 weeks into my official training I kicked a root while running trails at Kennesaw Mountain, broke my toe, and so much for that....but, I'm back now and aiming bigger this time. The Tahoe Rim Trail 50 Miler! (http://www.tahoemtnmilers.org/trter/trtindex.html)
I've made a mental pros & cons list and there are some really great reasons not to do this, and well...the pros list is pretty thin...let's see...
Cons:
- time away from the family
- marathoners statistically die earlier than marathon spectators, I'm guessing that ratio doesn't improve for ultramarathoners
- I'm coming off a broken toe and still have pain when I run....running 50 miles on a mostly-healed toe probably isn't what my podiatrist would recommend
- The race at Tahoe is between 6800-9214 feet above sea level. Metro Atlanta, is all of 1010 feet above sea level. Kennesaw Mountain, where I'll do most of my training, reaches a whopping 1808 feet above sea level. Aside from the issues with running at altitude, that means that my toughest training run will include less than 1,000 feet of elevation gain. Ther's a 3 mile stretch at Tahoe with over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Yikes.
- I could go on...
Pros
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yeah....that's what I thought...but I'm doing it anyway. :-)
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