Ever since I didn’t finish Leadville my motivation to blog regularly has wained. There is only so much you can say about getting up and going for a run, then on a different day – describe how I got up and went for another run. But we’re now in Arkensas for the Traveller 100 the last race of the 2008 series. The pre-race briefing was like any other, “please don’t poop and leave your TP on the trail, don’t drop litter, don’t allow your crew here or there, tell us if you drop out, etc”. It is almost like a running blog, there is only so much you can say. I made a mental note about that because in 4 weeks I’ll be standing in front of 70 plus runners to brief them about the 50k I’m directing.
The start of the Traveller is about 40 minutes drive from Little Rock, it is nestled in woods and the course is over 70% dirt road. The weather forecast is ‘good’, warm and dry which really means that Saturday’s race will be a long slog. The people seem very friendly and the event is small compared to the other 100s in the Slam. After checking in I sat in the shade a read and Guth went for a short run while we waited for the briefing. Later over dinner Guthrie asked if after 3 hundreds (2 and a half I corrected her), did I feel any different, either more tired, fatigued or stronger? I thought about it and replied that it wasn’t so much a feeling of fatigue but a tiredness of ‘more of the same’. Earlier in the week she had asked me a question about the race and I had to confess I hadn’t given the event a thought. All the arrangements had been made weeks ago and with the plans set I had tended to push them to the back of my mind. We packed before our flight to Little Rock just a few hours before leaving the house, jumped on a plane and here we are. Driving to the start I looked through the brief notes, but they never really mean much to me. I know the course will be marked, I know I need to eat and drink regularly, my equipment is tried and tested, and as for conditions on the day, what will be will be. I noticed several of the runners at the briefing who were obviously first time 100 mile runners judging by the obvious mixture of nervousness and excitement that they showed. I remember feeling the same at my first 100.
After Leadville my enthusiasm for ultra running had wained, but then came Wasatch. I had been a little apprehensive at the prospect of not finishing twice in a row, but the reality was that the spectacular environment awakened a spark inside that reminded how exhilarating running in high country with vistas as far as the eye could see can be. The Traveller isn’t going to be as spectacular but I’m sure it will have its challenges and at the end of the day, it will still be 100 miles. So even thought it hasn’t yet started, I’ve already committed to running a 100k in December and Western States next June.
The buzz may not be quite the same, but I guess the journey isn’t yet over.
