Monday, September 2, 2013

90 Ultras & Marathons?

Last post, I mentioned that one of my proudest running achievements was clocking 303 miles in one week. That accomplishment may be the greatest moment in my 15-year running history. If not #1, it's right up there. Finally breaking 24 hours for a 100-mile trail race is near the top too. And another achievement keeps growing...and may become another one of my "proudest moments" in Chris' running history.

So, what running accomplishment is getting close to the top of my awesome achievement list? I run lots of ultramarathons...and a few marathons. So far, I have completed 86 marathons or ultramarathons (70 ultras, 16 marathons). By the end of this year (4 months to go) I will have hit 90 ultras/marathons. My first was way back in May of 1999. I think by the end of 2014 I could reach 100 lifetime ultras/marathons. To me, that's quite an achievement. And I'm still setting a few personal records! Just this year, I set 50-mile and 100-mile PRs. Hope to break my marathon PR within the next year.

Here is my schedule for the rest of 2013:

  • Sept 15: Evergreen Lake 32 miler
  • Oct 12: Farmdale 30 miler
  • Nov 9: McNotAgain 30 miler
  • Nov 30: Seattle Ghost marathon
  • Dec 1: Seattle marathon

Yes, I may do two marathons in two days in Seattle! Why not? I'm tentatively thinking a Boston qualifier at the Seattle Ghost marathon, then the next day, a cool-down Seattle marathon pacing my brother to his first finish! If I do all five of these races, I'll have 91 total ultras and marathons and only 9 more needed in 2014 to reach 100 lifetime ultras/marathons. Once I get that 100th ultra/marathon, I will have an achievement to be proud of...and I'll keep building on that milestone!

2 comments:

David said...

100 would be a pretty nice big round number. I'm at 12 right now over the last 4 years of running marathon+ distances and still feel like I'm early in the learning phase. Hopefully my body holds up long enough to actually figure out how to run these damn things properly!

Some day I want to be like the 81-year-old who finished a 50K I participated in last year. Unlike him though, I think I'll wear a shirt...

Chris Ⓥ said...

I'd love to still be running ultras when I'm retired. I see lots of old dudes (70+) at the longer ultras including 100 milers.