Pre-Race Thoughts on Afton

Well, the Afton 50 km race is only a couple of days away. As usual, it looks like it will be plenty hot (forecasted high temp of 86 degrees) and of course, hilly. Afton was the first trail run I ever did which was way back in 2002 while training for my first (and only) marathon. It was the toughest run I had ever done in my life to that point, due to the terrain and weather. In fact, "surviving" 25 km at Afton was tougher than finishing the 26.2 miles of the TCM.

I haven't run the Afton race since then, but it has always been calling me. In fact, it was the main motivator behind my return to running and focus on ultramarathoning/trail running. Although my training has improved the past few weeks, I do have some trepidation about Saturday. I've yet to run one entire loop of the course without suffering considerably. On the positive side, I've been feeling very strong and smooth lately and have learned a lot about pacing, hydration, and nutrition the past few months. Hopefully, all of this will come together on Saturday and I'll have a smooth run. Irregardless, I plan to have fun, enjoy myself, and meet some more folks from the trail running community. I'm not going to worry about my time and just remember why I started ultramarathoning......because it's fun! It should one humdinger of a day!!