Another Month Another Race

I'll be heading East this weekend to race another 50 miler: The North Face Endurance Challenge, Northeast region race. This one will be a little more "low key" than my previous race (American River) and a lot more low key than my next race (Western States), but it's hard to call it "low key" as it has a $1000 first place purse and a pretty solid field including my 3rd straight race against Max King.

Racing in New York will be a lot nicer for my family, which all live there, than for me. I'm doing the whole race as a 4 day trip and will probably be more exhausted from all the travel than from the race itself. I'm excited to race again though. It's felt like a long time since American River and I know that I've gotten myself into even a bit better shape then I was a month ago. As my last "tune up" before Western States it'd be great to feel really strong this weekend, but I know that feeling that way is such a fickle thing, not something that can be counted on just because I'm in good shape.

Another thing that's really exciting for me about this one is that one of my best friend's here in Juneau is heading out East to do this one as well. This will be his first 50 miler and his first run ever over ~30 miles. I think I'm more anxious for him than I am for me. I can't wait to see what his experience is like. Hopefully he doesn't decide he never wants to run again because he's become my most consistent training companion.