My first 50k

Well, here I am, a little less than two weeks away from running my first 50k - on Saturday, October 24th I will be running the Surf The Murph 50k. I signed up for this race about 4 weeks ago and knew it would be a compressed training plan. That said, I got in somewhat of a routine for my normal runs and managed to fit in a 17 mile run (5 weeks out) and a 22 mile run (4 weeks out) before dropping the idea of one more long run while dealing with a head cold followed by stomach flu.

But I feel strong physically and more importantly, mentally. Just knowing I completed a trail marathon on a somewhat tougher course than what Surf the Murph will be run on, makes me feel confident.

My strategy for this race is to take it easy in the early portion, especially on the hills. After I get through the hills again on the second lap, then I can see if I want to (or even can) kick it in a little bit. But if I'm able to just run a consistent race and feel reasonably well afterward, then I will consider it a success. A key component of this strategy will be eating real food. That made such a difference while running Curnow versus chugging gels like I did during my pre-Curnow long runs. My stomach felt great the entire time.

Gear:
I went ahead and bought another pair of Hoka Mafate Speeds. I have liked this shoe despite a few others telling me that they did not. The reason I bought another pair is that some of the traction has worn away on my first pair and I feel like I may need it for the race.

I also just picked up a pair of Injinji toe socks. I seem to have the blister thing under control, except for a couple spots between my toes. So I thought I would give these socks a try and see if they help.

What's Next?

Since completing the Curnow Marathon back in July, I've been kept busy in a number of ways and have yet to run another race. And actually, have not been running as consistently as I would like. But getting two kids ready and dropped off at college as well as following another kid's lacrosse team progress will do that to you!

Now that Labor Day weekend has come and gone and we are beginning to see some signs of the beautiful fall weather that Minnesota is known for, I am more determined than ever to continue on my running program and keep my fitness levels high. One of my more recent revelations is that I am about 250 miles away from running 1000 miles for the calendar year. While this may be easily achieved by more seasoned runners, I have not come within 500 miles of this milestone in my life! So goal #1 for the remainder of the year is to run consistently and smash through that barrier.

Next on my list is to find a few local races to run during the fall months. With that in mind, I just signed up for my first 50k trail race on October 24th. It's called Surf the Murph and is held in Murphy-Hanrehan Park in Savage, MN. I have come up with a fairly compact training plan since the race is just over 5 weeks away. Thankfully it should be more of a ramping back up effort than building from scratch.

Other races I am considering in the coming months:

Frozen Otter (64 or 32 miles) -   January 2016
Trail Mix 50k - April 2016
Superior Spring Trail 50k - May 2016
Grandma's Marathon - June 2016
Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon - July 2016
Superior Fall Trail 50m - August 2016

This list is a bit aggressive and I may not be able to run them all. Time will tell. The only one of the above races I have run is the Curnow Marathon. I would like to take another shot at it and see if I can improve my time.