into the great wide open

ultra-something.

“Dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You then have to catch up with them.” 
~ sir richard branson

ultra running is loosely defined as "...anything past the marathon, or 26.2 miles. However, the shortest standard distance that is considered an ultra is the 50 kilometer distance, or 31.07 miles."

i'd add that for a less-accomplished runner, an ultra is "...anything past the distance one considers 'crazy.'"

full disclosure: based on the 50k standard, i'm "less accomplished." so this month, by my standard, i'm heading into the crazy.

starting this weekend (4/13) i'm signed up for the squak mountain half marathon, followed by the rattler half (4/20), followed by the soaring eagle 20-mile event (4/27).

these are all trail races over terrain i've not run, with about 8,000 feet of elevation between them. so there's an element of the unknown (and a degree of difficulty) ahead. perhaps more importantly, i've never run lengthy trail races on back-to-back-to-back weekends. even more importantly, i've never run 20 miles. not all at once, anyway.

so i'd argue (with myself, mostly) that the upcoming stretch of weekends is kind of ultra. also, maybe, kinda ultra-dumb. but you know what? fuck it. you don't know unless you try.

point of order: just so we're clear, i'm not grotesquely unprepared. i've run several half marathons and several long-ish (10-mile +) trail events. at least one a month for the last several months (plus lots and lots of consistent training miles). last weekend i did a 13.2 training run, and standing here today i'm feeling pretty good (except for this rib on my right side that feels like it's slightly out of place. but, i mean, it's not protruding from my flesh or anything).

so, from a training standpoint, it feels like maybe i can do this. i think i can ~ but i'm not sure i can. but if i could, it would set me up for something 26.2-ish in may. 

i'm not sure i can do that, either. but i'm willing to find out.

see what i'm doing here? literally talking myself into this as i type it.

sometimes it has to be done. dreaming big ≈ dreaming crazy.

on my feet and moving.