Ah. . . . 2013 Bear Mt. 50-Miler. While I accomplished a lot in 2013, I feel like this was something I'm most proud of because of the fundraising and spirit behind the run in memory of Kurt Ousman and in honor and memory of many others that I was told about by donors to the campaign in the 2-weeks leading up to the race. The race just went so much better than I could have imagined. I won't go into details as they can all be read in that blog entry here: http://tntultracoachmike.blogspot.com/2013/05/2013-bear-mt-50-miler-in-memory-of-kurt.html
But my racing and to some extent training certainly peaked after Leadville in August. While I continued to run and coach with Team in Training, all I had on schedule was the Amsterdam Marathon, which I ran in 3:19 in a 6 minute negative split and really enjoyed that race. The week before Amsterdam I was going to attempt a 100-miler on Long Island (without any ultra training since Leadville). The Tesla Hertz 100-miler was a very, very flat 10-mile course that you do 10-times. I had it in my mind to go fast or go home early. I went out way to fast (16-18 hour pace) and maybe because of that, my stomach just wasn't feeling right. But on top of that, I wasn't mentally prepared to run for a 18-23+ hours. So I took the cue from my stomach and lack of focus (I went off course 2-3 times in the last loop I ran) to call it a day after 30+ miles.
Fast forward to this past weekend (December 7th) and I was focused on hopefully getting into one of the two lottery races for 2014. Western States 100 http://www.wser.org/ and the Hardrock 100 http://hardrock100.com/ . I didn't get into either. So now what am I to do in 2014? If I want to be eligible for the lottery for the 2015 Hardrock race, I have to complete a 100-miler based off of a limited list. A much bigger list is the case for Western States. So at the moment, I'm thinking of running the Bighorn 100 http://www.bighorntrailrun.com/ in June as my big race. I'll most likely do the Bear Mt. 50-miler again in May and the Caumsette 50K in March. Maybe I'll do Bull-Run Run 50 in April again as well.
I also have in my mind a different training routine. I want to run a fast marathon (for me anyways) again. I am also curious to see if training for a fast marathon can still translate into running a decent 100-miler or trail ultra in general. I know that these ultras are so much more a mental game and being in tune with how your body is feeling and not doing anything stupid during the race. So if I can put in 60-80 miles a week in marathon training without 30+ mile Saturday or Sunday training runs which won't be easy to do, will that translate into a good mountain ultra race? I guess we'll find out!
So those are my thoughts on the first half of 2014.