This weekend is the first of 4 tough running weekends. 24 trail miles today with lots of climbing, 16 "easy" tomorrow. My 24 today - crappola. To simulate AR50, I'm running the first X miles as an out and back on the road. The balance of the miles is up Headwaters Elk River Trail, which is a 1460-foot climb in 11 miles. It's a 3-mile run to the beginning of all the climbing. I'm suppose to do the climbing twice.


I did 8 on the out and back, and it was around Mile 13 that things started falling apart. My throat decided it didn't want to swallow anymore pretzels, pita chips, potatoes, or shot bloks, even though I was nauseated and needed to eat. I finally gave in and forced myself to throw up, even though hardly anything came up. When I got back to my turnaround point, I was able to get down some chicken noodle soup (I carried in my own "aid station"), so I poured the rest of it - which wasn't near enough - into an empty bottle and carried it in the little pouch in the back of running vest. I made it to the top again by power walking instead of running, sitting down a few times, even laying down in the middle of the trail one time and yelling out a few curse words at the top. Coming down isn't too bad since it's mostly down hill, but those 3 miles out sucked, too. I sat down on the side of the trail at one point and wished someone would come along who I could ask to walk out with. Didn't happen. Bummer.

So 24 in 6.5 hrs. My legs are thoroughly exhausted, and I'm having a tough time eating 'cause I'm bloated. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

Okay - I'm done whining. :o)