Prepping for Burning River

Well, ready or not the Burning River 100 is just around the corner. I confess that I am less certain about my preparation this year than last year. Ironically, being in China was not a great problem in terms of my training. However, getting my schedule cleared to go to China and catching up on time with my family and work stuff left me with fewer miles on the road then I would have preferred. Still, I had a few 30+ mile runs, a 40 mile run, my 12 hour Great Wall adventure, and a recent 32/25 back to back run, so I think I still have a good shot at finishing as long as I run smart.

My plan is to start out more slowly than I did at Haliburton and to try and keep a more even pace throughout. Last long run, I used a 10 minute run/5 minute walk pace that allowed me to complete 25 miles in 5 hours, even after doing 32 miles the day before. I ran even splits throughout and felt pretty comfortable at the end so I think this is a better strategy than the 9/1 and 25/5 run/walk ratios that I used at the beginning of Haliburton.

The logistics of Burning River are also slightly more complicated than at Haliburton since it is point to point as opposed to two out-and-backs. However, my parents are going to be joining Holli as part of my crew so we will have additional support. We're also going to try and coordinate crew needs that we didn't really plan well for at Haliburton--namely the need for Holli to sleep and eat at some point during the race. There is supposed to be cell phone service throughout so that should help too. Perhaps I'll twitter the event.

In terms of equipment, I'm planning on using a single water bottle throughout and, depending on the heat and my pace, an additional water bottle in a holster. I was pretty happy with how that worked last time. I'll aim to consume 100 calories of gel, honey, or sport beans every 30 minutes and to take electrolyte tablets every 20-30 minutes. I'll start eating some solid foods at 10 hours or so (soup probably).

I'm going to try and stick with Dirt Dawg as he heads for what I am sure will be his first 100 mile success story. I'm also looking forward to meeting Nate and Mae, two of our Lupus Runners from last year, who will also be at the event. It should be a good time!

I confess with some guilt that I haven't really had the time or energy to do a great deal of fundraising. I do want to thank everyone who has donated so far and to ask those who haven't donated to consider making a contribution to this important cause. I think 2009 might be my last harrah in terms of fundraising (at least for a little while) as I've had difficulty pulling together the time and energy that I feel the cause really warrants. It might be better for me to take a bit of a break (at least from fundraising--running keeps me sane so I don't expect to stop that!). So this is the last time I'm going to ask all of you for money, at least for the next year or two. Help me out this one last time and click the donate button on the right!