New Years day I will begin a 15 month long journey in which I will build myself up in hopes to run the Umstead 100 Mile Endurance Run in 2012. Being a “runner”, I have always been intrigued by going long. Long gone are my days of 20 minute 5K’s and at this point in time I probably could not even go out and run a solid half marathon. I have completed two marathons a few years back and have since let myself go. I don’t want this to turn into one of those New Year Resolution things as those seem to always be doomed to failure. This will be more of a change of lifestyle rather than a quick fix as I set out to rid myself of my bad habits and form new ones which will aid me on my path to run 100 miles.
Why Umstead?
Through my reading, this seems to be a good race for beginners. I like the fact that it is a loop course. I do not have easy access to trails and a lot of my daily miles will be run on pavement. The loop course lessens the chance of me getting lost out in the woods, especially at night which is one of my biggest concerns! Also, the timing is nice as the weather shouldn’t be too extreme (either hot or cold) in early April in NC.
The Plan
The plan is to use 2011 to work my way up the distance ladder through various races throughout the year. It all starts with a “Hangover 5K” on New Year’s Day which I can assure you will be very unimpressive! From there, I am looking to run various races as short term goals as I build up to 100 miles. Being I live in the Northeast, some races I might plan to target are as follows: Running with the Devil 6-Hour, Mountain Madness 50K, Vermont 50M, NYC Marathon. These are all in the 2nd half of 2011 so I might try to get in a spring marathon, possibly the NJ Marathon in early May. The progression would look like this: Spring Marathon, Summer 6-Hour Race, Fall 50M (Maybe I will try and find a winter 100K). This should have me up to speed for my ultimate goal in 2012.
Going forward I will be tracking my mileage, weight, Body Fat (Using a scale, not an exact number however it will be consistent) as well as posting my progress on this 15 month adventure. You can also follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mwest815 for daily updates on my training.
