Pray for me 39 miler tomorrow (Goal)

Pray for me all! I am scheduled for my 39 miler in 2 weeks but I have really been itching to run another ultra this month before. So I've been hydrating for two days secretly hoping that the day of reconning will come tomorrow. Took a 1/2 day of work off and the wife is gone with the kids all day. So it looks like tomorrow is the day.

I have a 6.55 mile loop exactly that is an out and back from my house. So six of those gets me there. At a 1:25 pace for the first two and a 1:35 pace through 3-4 puts me around a 5:30 marathon time. The final two I'm hoping for 1:45's so I should hit the finish line around 8:15 minutes. So it will be brutal but that's the plan. I'm really hoping that my nutrition is solid and I can stay hydrated enough. Temps should be around 100 so tomorrow may be the first day I run with a Camelpack (TBD).

Wish me luck all and this is uncharted territory for me. If I hit this, with what I've ran so far for the week, it will put me at a total of 114 miles for the past 2 weeks. That's just nutty!

Best wishes Jeff, I'm sure you will do great.

Sorry I missed you I.M. I was getting my son ready for bed.

You are an animal, you can do it!!!!

Scott

 You'll do great! Stay hydrated and be safe. 

 good luck bro, 39 miles is inconceivable!  

Best of luck - be careful in the heat!

Good luck, have fun and BE CAREFUL - that's a lot of heat for running! 

i'm praying!  good luck man, i don't know if i'm mentally strong enough for that many out-and-backs!

Well all, today was awesome. I only got in 21 of my 40 goal. That really sucked but the AZ sun and heat exhaustion / dehydration set in and nothing I could do about it. That is the downfall of running ultra marathons not in a race setting. No aid station every mile really makes in challenging. I really started out too late. If I would have gotten out at 5am, I would have been done by 1 which is when the sun really starts to hit. My last 11 miles I had 126 oz of water, 2 tangerines, 1 orange, 2 spoons of salt, 5 sports legs tabs and still bonked. So there is nothing I could do about it. But here is the awesome part............


I was thinking about my running the past three weeks and how I had averaged 53 miles a week for those weeks and how I still looked at myself as a fat dude trying to run ultra marathons, Ironman, etc. I finally realized that I run about as much as anyone I know. When I'm swimming seriously, there is ony one dude that I personally know that swims more than me, my brother Dan. and when I cycled, I could pull centuries, long rides and maintain 20 + mph for hours on end and at 290lbs. Now I'm at 260 and dropping like crazy and probably 4 months away from hitting my goal weight. I finally realized that I am an ultra endurance athlete. I think today's run, I mentally set out for 40 but at 18 (before I became dehydrated) I had set out to do 50 because I felt awesome and I knew I could handle it. I think that speaks to my base and abilities.

So I finally put away the fat dude running races and I am considering myself as an endurance athlete. It feels good to get rid of that past and put my fitness into perspective today. If I can do all of these things at 260, I cannot imagine how strong I will be at 175. The future looks so bright and today's run was more than about getting in miles. It was the run that I needed to learn something about me. What a breakthrough day.

Jeff