Could I be an Ultra-Runner?

I’m about ninety percent committed.  I just need a little wiggle room to let the idea truly settle in, but I’m on the verge of signing up for my first 50 mile race.  The race is in December, the North Face Endurance Challenge, on the trails north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the main thing that I’m wary of is the ten thousand foot total elevation gain.  The timing works out for me – I don’t have any races planned until next spring, and now that I’ve got a few marathons under my belt, I think it’s time to go for it.  But ten thousand feet . . . .

Last week we were in Lake Tahoe, and Lesley and I made a plan to hike up Mount Tallac and leave the kids with the grandparents.  I’ve been running regularly this summer, but have not been training, and decided that I needed to have at least one somewhat epic day this summer.  I decided would run to the trailhead and meet Lesley there.  It was about a seven-mile run, and I liked the idea of going from the cabin on foot all the way to the peak of Tallac.  When I told Lesley about my plan the day before, she told me (half-jokingly) that it sounded good, but it would really be impressive if I ran back to the cabin after the hike too, so I could say I did the whole thing on foot.  She claims she didn’t mean for me to take it seriously, but she must know me well enough by now to that once a suggestion like that starts bouncing around my head, I can’t let its go. 

Arriving at the trailhead

On the run to the trailhead I had some views from of Mount Tallac from Camp Richardson, and the over three-thousand foot climb we would be doing that day.  I’ve hiked it a few times before and that didn’t worry me, but what did worry me was the thought of stacking three of these mountains on top of each other, and knowing that that was how much climbing I would be doing if I signed up for the North Face race.  This imaginary mountain seemed to reach up into the stratosphere, and it seemed impossible.  But then I remembered that somehow people find a way to do these races, and that maybe somewhere inside me there exists the will, or craziness to do one of my own.  It was then I decided that I had to run back after the nine-mile hike, to prove something to myself.

At the Summit

Hero Shot -- The flag was already there

The run there was pleasant and quiet, and the hike gave us some much-needed time together, alone, outside.  I jumped in Cathedral Lake on the way down, or a more accurate description would be I waded out through the rocks trying to make sure I didn't twist an ankle, then quickly dunked myself when I was about waist deep.  It woke me up enough to get a little pumped about the run home, which turned out to be hot in the mountain sun.  I did see a hawk flying through the trees though.  When I made it back to the cabin, I thought that maybe I do have it in me to do a 50 miler.

Dunking

I’m now two days into my twenty-week training program, and it’s just a matter of registering for the run now (that and staying injury free over the next few months).  I guess once I put it up on our blog that makes it kind of official though.