With the crisis that has been happening with the COVID-19 pandemic, racing hasn't been something that has been happening for the past few months. Rightfully so, people are just "hungry" to do something. Under a significant amount of pressure, I made the decision a few weeks ago to postpone the 2020 running of the Booneville Backroads Ultra series of races. I didn't want to put my runners or the community in harm even if some feel we could have put it on. Because of this, Memorial Day weekend freed up...which the race would have started on my birthday...and wanted to do something crazy that I'd been dreaming about for a few years. Run the entire Raccoon River Valley Trail in Central Iowa for an FKT. The FastestKnownTime.com site didn't have one set so why not give it a whirl. I told my beautiful and supportive wife that I was thinking about doing something wild for my birthday and her response was "please don't say it's 100 miles. I don't...
This picture...this picture will forever be the reminder for me of determination and grit. I'm not going to sit here and say that this was my finest moment in my running career, but this moment was the one where the chips were stacked against me and I decided to take on the dealer...this moment... I have to admit off the bat that I am super invested in this race. Having lived in Iowa my whole life, I am proud of this state and what it has to offer and this race just makes living here, for me, that much more special. Steve Cannon, the race director, has given me an unbelievable opportunity to be involved and help him with the pre-race "stuff" and I am so thankful to be a part of it. Leading into the 2017 Booneville Backroads 100 mile I had a level of confidence in me that bordered on the cocky spectrum. After my terrible race at Rocky Raccoon, I came into this race hungry for something more. I was putting more and more time into climbing hills, speed work and long ...
My racing over the past couple of years has been all over the map. My sub ultra distances have been blessed with PR after PR. My ultra distance finishes have left me "satisfied" mentally, but I've left those races just feeling...blah. I came into the Rocky Raccoon this year...let's just call it "undertrained". After the 2017 Equalizer 24 hour where I managed a measly 67 miles after a strange pop in my foot which turned out to be the result of nothing more than just being REALLY cold for 14 hours. I was just tired. I felt amazing during the race for 14 hours. The weather was windy and the windchill was ~20°F or colder for most of the day and I gave it what I could. I had a total of one...yes a single run of over 15 miles since November 1st...and that happened two weeks before Rocky. I spent a fair amount of time working on my climbing, doing stair workouts and even jumping on the occasional bike or rowing machine. The fitness level was there, the running...
Comments