Are you sitting down? Put your coffee/tea/beverage of choice down for a moment.
Yep… you read that right.
I have been training to run a 50k, a road race at that, and I registered for it today. I’m still a bit queasy over this.
Say hello to “No’to’Mom.” It’s a USATF sanctioned race and will include many elite runners both at the 100k and 50k level. I am running the individual 50k along with my running buddy. We are not USATF athletes – just normal folk.
Our journey to a road race was rather strange. Initially, the plan was to run a trail 50k. We started with the Bizz Johnson 50k (Susanville, CA) which is usually held in October. This year, they moved it to Labor Day weekend (I just found out it was canceled for 2021). We anticipated travel and lodging on that weekend to be a challenge, and honestly, we weren’t sure we would have the mileage in by then. We then moved on to Lake Chabot (Castro Valley, CA) which is in November. We probably had plenty of training time but I was concerned about my persistent struggle with trail running. Trying to train for a very long trail race with elevation while struggling is defeating.
I had initially heard about the No ‘to’ Mom race a while back from the race director of Singletrack Running (I’m a member of the team). We were talking 50k’s and he suggested this one. I pooh-poohed the race because it was a flat “road” race (insert rolled eyes here). Sorry, Paulo!
I’ve been doing a lot of training on the road over the past couple of months. My running has changed. I am stronger, have better endurance, and I’m getting faster. I started thinking about this race and thought, “why not?” I sent a text to my current coach asking if this was nuts. Her reply basically said, “no, we just need to change your training, and we have 2.5 months to do it.” So, here we are.
The thing that is super cool about this race though is the race director. Meghan Canfield was my first coach. I adore her – she is phenomenal. This is her race. One of my goals while training with her was to run a 50k. Running this race to the finish will bring us full circle in a strange but cool way. I’m really hoping that she will be the one that puts the medal around my neck. Fingers crossed.
The race is Saturday, October 2, 2021, on the American River Parkway. We (50k runners) start at 8:30a. I don’t have a goal time yet but I’ll keep you posted.
It’s going to be an interesting day. I will finish this race…if it takes me all day and I have to crawl to finish (I have until 10:00p, but we’ll be done long before that, and I won’t need to crawl, walking is fine). I’m stubborn like that.