Pre-Race Jitters

Pre-Race Jitters

Ultra #024
This was originally posted on Facebook notes on 2018-06-10.

Super excited to be heading back home to Alberta, Canada where I grew up for a short visit with some family and friends. But honestly one of the biggest draws for me is the challenge of running 100 miles! Only 2.5 days till we fly out...

I’ve run a couple of 100 mile events now and done well in both body and mind. So I believe that the distance itself is not the source of the well known pre-race jitters. I think it is just one of those things that is necessary in sports. If you are not scared, excited, or worried about something then maybe that something is not really that important. That being said the RVR (River Valley Revenge) is drawing near the more and more excited I’ve become this year for the run. A couple of things have come into mind that cause that ever little cloud of doubt and jitters I am referring to.

1. I’ve been living in flat land South Texas for the last year now means this is definitely going to be more of a challenge. Can my legs handle 20 hr+ of climbing ups & downs of the river valley? Next week at this time i will have my answer...one way or the other.
2. Should i be setting a time goal based on last year? The course is changed slightly (for the better from what I’ve seen on the online updates & maps) and will consists of more singletrack and more well defined route. Will i get lost? Is the flagging and course navigation what is was last year? The unknown of the exact course always worries me a little in these longer events.
3. Should i aim for the win? To me this is rhetorical because I did manage to pull off the victory last year. Anyone that knows me when I race, I kind of run with the style of say a Zach Miller -- where I go all out from the start and hang on as long as I can (note: I am no where near as successful as Zach and his style but for me I only have this high gear when competition is on my mind). However, a 100 mile event is not to be taken lightly and I know this. But the fact I am going in as the returning winner does maybe add some extra pre-race jitters, even with the smaller participant list. In my mind I always aim high even if it seems impossible or does not match with reality.
4. Family. With this visit being a return for us to visit my folks and take our kids there is the added stress of travelling and keeping the kids wrangled during this time as well. Luckily I have the most amazing life partner in my wife and she’ll crew me with the 3.5 kids (amazingly) till they can’t stay awake anymore in the sunset hours of that first day. But the thought of my wife doing all of this always makes me feel like she is doing more work and effort than i am running (probably cause she is). First step is to get on the plane and survive the trip with multiple cars seats and luggage. I am just glad it is a direct flight.

Well the pre-race work is done. My loose self-directed “feel like running then run” training plan has lead me to another get fitness level where I feel that I am more that ready physically for the RVR 100 challenge. Just a few more days to get some quality sleep in. Later today I will pack my gear. I will likely hit the local trails for a few miles to clear my mind as well. Time to get my head focused on the task of running 100 miles as the time is near!

We head north to Edmonton in 2.5 days. Time to get off the road and add another ultramarathon into my running resume. This time next week I will have answers to all of these jitters...time will tell.

#100milesorbust #rabbitELITEtrail #borntorunfree #runinrabbit #teamTROT #ultrarunningdad #rivervalleyrevenge

Thank you to the support from a couple amazing companies:

• rabbit: selecting me to rabbitELITEtrail 2018-19 team me a lot to me
• Trail Racing Over Texas: teamTROT picking me for the ambassadorship for 2o18