Poor Decisions Make for Better Stories
My friend Billy wanted to do a 50M. And not just any 50M; one of the hardest 50M (56M) races. I was still riding the post-Ironbaby high (that time I did an indoor 140.6 by myself) so I happily agreed to join him in GA in May. Never mind that I don't have many hills where I live. To get a nice hike in, it's about an hour drive. And that state park is closed for most of the training months since it's winter in Wisconsin. My training consisted of hill running with snowshoes on whenever I had the chance, hill repeats in general and lots of stair climbing, mixed with high-incline runs and fast walks. The entire training period, I had a lot of doubts. I had days when I knew I was going to crush it and those training days when I thought the race will crush me and I'll end up as the sherpa. And for a time, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do this race due to health issues. I think that was what I needed to fuel that fire. Every athlete knows that...