I’ve wrote many times how the pain from spinal stenosis took me to some dark, depressing places in 2018.  More important, I’ve written about changing my attitude and mindset to recover from those injuries.  When changing mindsets, my goal couldn’t just be a full recovery and elimination of pain.  Instead, the greater goal was to run a 50-mile race and qualify for the Boston Marathon before turning 50.  To do so, I’d need to become stronger than before the injuries.  This gave me the fire to push through all the work required to make a full recovery and live pain free.  My first 50-mile race will take place Saturday.

My goal to complete a 50-mile race started in October 2017.  I paced my wife’s cousin, Kathy for 10ish miles during one of her ultra-marathons and caught the bug.  Before that point, I wasn’t interested in running anything longer than a marathon.  “I have no desire to run 1 mile past 26.2” was my quick response when encouraged to run an ultra.  After pacing Kathy, I planned to try a 50-miler in late 2018…but the car accident occurred on January 3, 2018 and put ultras on hold.  In fact, everything was in doubt for a few years.  One of my doctors said I would never run a marathon again, much less an ultra.

My urge to compete in an ultra-marathon was heightened last fall.  I was training for the Prairie Fire Half Marathon in October but felt ready to take the next step.  I went out for a 32-mile run the next Saturday after Prairie Fire. I was surprised how well I felt afterwards and immediately signed up for a 6-hour race where I completed 31.78 miles in the allocated time.  Since that time, my eyes have been set on a 50-miler.

I will participate in the Flint Hills 50-mile race this Saturday in Manhattan, KS.  I’ve been training for this race since early January and feel as ready as I can be.  I haven’t logged all the miles I needed to over this time due to weather disruptions and tweaking my hip in January.  I am confident all my cross training will overcompensate for the mileage.  The course is very hilly—I will experience more elevation gain in addition to logging more miles than ever before.  I was able to complete a flat, 40-mile run 3 weeks ago and felt strong the day after. 

I feel confident about toughing my way through the hills due to my glute and quad strength.  I’ll rely on these muscles more than normal, but they have been areas of focus while rehabbing from the car accident.  For instance, I’ve completed over 29,000 body-weight squats over the past 22 months.  It’s time to test my progress.

I’ve significantly reduced my mileage over the past two weeks and spent extra time focused on recovery.  This includes several cryotherapy and compression therapy sessions and receiving a Myers’ IV for extra hydration and supplements.  Shout out to the team at iCRYO Frisco!

It’s go time.

More to come after completing Saturday’s race.

Go get it.