See you on the other side

It's exciting to think that my next post should be a riveting race report where I blow all the competition out of the water and win Badwater uncontested for the final 13 mile climb to the top of Mount Whitney. But its July 18th and well I think a snowball has a better shot at reaching the podium than I do. The top 4 from last years race are all returning and are all very qualified. Some have posted 150 mile 24 hour results, 17:30 hundos and the list goes on.

I feel good, I feel ready to tackle the challenge. I keep telling myself that I just want to have a good race and be the best version of myself on race day. I tell myself that I'm not as good as the top 10 entrants. I'm to new to the sport and haven't put in the prerequisite miles to stand on the Badwater podium. But I can't stop the highlight real from playing in my head, finishing top 3 or winning the race. This is truly the first ultramarathon I have dedicated a full 4-5 month training program to since I won Prairie Spirit in 2013. That race I knocked back a 16:09 in a blizzard. I feel more prepared than that race, my legs feel fresh ready to pounce. I put in around 52 miles last week and I'm on pace to 32 this week.

The nerves has set in, the anticipation for the reunion with so many friends traveling to California to enjoy the day with me, and of course the test of training and resolve that will come Monday. An article was run in the Army Times about my run, I'm the only Army Soldier running it and 1/2 service members running. It's exciting that their excited.

The only thing that calms the anticipation is knowing that I can no longer do anything to perform better at Badwater but can only do things that will negatively effect me. The plan is to drive to Lone Pine tomorrow and stop at Badwater Basin on the way. I would like to hit a couple miles on the horseshoe meadows climb and the cerro gordo climb not so much to "recon" the course but more to understand what pace to approach the climbs at. Living in the flatland it is hard for me to visualize what 6500 ft in 22 miles looks like or what 5500 ft in 7.5 miles feels like. I keep trying to stack Mt. Scott's on top of each other but the calculations always exceed my quick mental calculator.

So with all that said I have seen myself make to many mistakes this year to let it sabotage my Badwater. When I raced Lake McMurty I allowed myself to be sucked into running the first 15.5 miles to fast, I won the race but I should have run much more consistent. During Jemez I allowed myself to run the first 8 miles with Anton Krupicka and stupidly finished 2.5 hours behind him. Not Badwater. I've learned that I do have the power to close races in the last 1/4 if I stay patient. My goal is to run strong after the 100 mile mark. Not to death march.

We have seen an onslaught of fast races in 2014 but with that come carnage. At Rocky Raccoon I watched 30 runners try to run Ian Sharman's race frankly only 2-3 of them could run his pace and after 2 laps runners were dropping left and right. We saw this again at Western States and Hardrock this year. It seems the strategy is to go out hard and hope like hell you can hold on longer than everyone else. I want to be the one picking up the carnage at mile 80, 90 and 100 looking fresh at Darwin and ready for the Mt. Whitney Climb. Most of all  I want to win Badwater. Deep down that is what I keep telling myself but reality slaps me and tells me I'm not fast enough. Oswaldo is a tough runner, and Badwater is his stomping grounds but I'd be a fool to hide it from myself that I want to win.

Guess monday will play out and the miles will rank all 100 starters 1-100.

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