It's beginning to dawn on me as the days and weeks pass by with seemingly increasing rapidity that one day very soon I am going to wake up in the dark, predawn hours of the morning in a hotel room in northern California, don my trusty running gear, stumble to the starting line of a crazy mountain race surrounded by a sea of illuminated foreheads, hear a muted countdown, and then at the sound of the gun, begin this epic quest that has dominated my psyche for the past 3 years. In the times when I would daydream about the Grand Slam when I was out on a training runs I had always assumed that I would somehow feel "different" when the time came to run it - that through extensive training, mental preparation, and experience, I would have a deep and varied bag of tricks that would enable me to tough it out and reach beyond the boundaries of my physical capabilities with gusto and panache.
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| Mr. Incredible! |
Well, with under 16 weeks of training time to go until Western States (actually 14 weeks, if you consider a 2-week taper), I am becoming more conscious of the fact that from a preparation standpoint I am NOT going to be a significantly different person from the one I am today. Sure, I'll have a few more weeks worth of training runs under my belt, but really, what am I going to be able to do in these next several weeks that will make much of a difference in my ability to finish? Probably not much. I do have a decent level of experience from which to draw and with a little luck I will have had a solid training cycle behind me when I get to Squaw Valley. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and any problems that might arise from the list of "things I can't control" will stay relatively short. But either way I will have to adapt and overcome.
Because regardless of how much training I put in, or how many dietary changes I make, or how much time I spend in the gym, there are going to be a number of tough moments when I won't want to continue. (Probably several in each race!) There will be wardrobe malfunctions, problems at aid stations, periods of low energy, dehydration, heat, cold, and who even knows what else. The real question will be not so much am I properly trained, but am I completely resolved to continue? Because if I can't answer in the strong "affirmative" to that second question, all other questions are rendered moot.
I'll head to Squaw Valley in June with 20-something years of training and racing behind me. It's that depth of experience that will either get me through this, or it won't. I am keeping in mind that what I do between now and then will be the icing on the cake. The final passes of sharpening the blade on the whetstone, if you will. If I don't have "it" by now, I'm not going to get "it" by the time this thing kicks off in June. That's both a comforting thought and a somewhat disconcerting one!
Ultimately, I am who I am - and that's OK. For now though, the final stages of my preparation begins.
Hey, I came across your blog looking up Prairie Spirit race reports. I'll be doing that in a couple weeks. I noticed you are in the Slam this year, congrats! I ran it back in 2012 and yes, Leadville almost took me out but it wasn't the climbing or the elevation, it was mostly the cold between half-moon two and fish hatchery, I think they call it Outward Bound now. That and a dumb food mistake at Twin Lakes inbound. Anyway, I wish you well. It's an awesome adventure.
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