With less than 1 week until the Hallucination 100, my body is feeling strong, my fitness is at a decent level, and my attitude is where it should be.
During the remaining days I plan to study the small details, such as travel plans, food items I will need, and how I want to pace myself during the race.
As for pacing, I recently read a blog in which the runner perfectly described my own hesitations about how to run the first half of the race. She wrote that she can get to mile 70 in good shape, but the final 30 miles are always a death march. She wonders if this is an effect of running the first 50 miles too fast, or if it is the natural way in which her body responds to running such a long distance. In all of her 100 mile races she would go out somewhat hard, and hold on at the end. She wondered if she should try going out slow for the first 10 hours, hoping the turtle pace would bypass the 70 mile crash and burn. But she concluded that no matter how slow she went, it would not matter - miles 70-100 were going to hurt, so why not go fast at the beginning of the race?
That is what I have been asking myself - if I run the first 35-50 fast or slow, will it matter? if I am going to be hurting at mile 70, why not run a normal pace until I reach that point? If I hiked the first 50 miles and ran the final 50, would I crash at mile 70? I may be feeling stiff and achy at mile 70, but there is a chance I would not be in death march mode due to the gentle first 50 miles. If this is true, then pacing during the first 50 miles does matter, and can affect how I feel at mile 70. Holding that belief I have to decide what a proper pace should be for the first half of the race. Since I do not have a finishing time goal, a good pacing strategy would be slow, and slower. Will I be able to watch most of the competitors run away from me during the first 20 miles? If I can contain my competitive urges and keep the pain of mile 70 within my imagination, maybe I can.
