Umstead Bound!

Saturday, September 8, at Noon (EDT) was the opening of the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run online registration for the April 6, 2013 event. Registration closed somewhere around 12:03pm eastern time. For better or worse, I GOT INTO THE RACE!  Yep, I'm one of the "lucky" 275 entrants. I now have 208 days to train for this 100 mile trail race that will occur in Umstead State Park near Raleigh, NC. The next 6 months will be filled with long runs, tempo runs, recovery runs, fartlek runs, barefoot runs, and even scheduled walks. I'll do a few shorter races on my way to the 100 miler, here is my tentative list:

Oct = Farmdale 30 Mile Trail Run (IL)
Nov = McNotAgain 30 Mile Trail Run (IL)
Dec = Tecumseh Trail Marathon (IN)
Jan = Riddle Run 28 Mile Fat Ass Trail Run (IL)
Feb = Fuego y Agua 50K (Nicaragua)
Mar = Land Between the Lakes 60K (KY)

My goal for Umstead 100 is a sub-24 hour finish. That means averaging a 14:24 pace per mile for 24 hours, both day and night, on the Umstead park trails. Sounds like an easy pace, eh?  Maybe, maybe not. That average will include stops for food, water, shoe & sock changes, bathroom breaks, etc. After about 18 hours, it isn't that easy to maintain that pace. Heck, it isn't easy to maintain any forward progress!  With appropriate training, intelligent recovery, and a little luck...I hope to be crossing that Umstead 100 finish line the morning of Sunday, April 7...with the clock reading 23:59. Maybe 23:45 would be safer? I'll take 23:30 too.

Best of luck to all of the runners that got into the race.  Train hard, train smart, and race well. I'll see you in about 208 days.