Tales from the Trails

Travel Details Jeanette and I traveled together by car (my family's minivan) from Louisville, KY to Lutsen, MN where we were staying at the Caribou Highlands lodge, which was also the location of the finish line for the race. I was packed for the race the previous weekend, and had very little to take care of the night before the race. My mom brought me awesome chocolate chip cookies and folded laundry and reviewed my lists with me to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Mike was handling kid activities for the night. I got to bed at a reasonable hour, and planned to leave my house at 6:30 a.m. to pick up Jeanette from her house by 7am. At 4:30 a.m., I woke with an outrageous migraine. Ugh. I couldn't move or even ask for help until after 6am. It was almost 9am before I was able to drive, and I still felt pretty awful most of the day. Our drive was awesome though. We didn't need any distractions with all the fabulous conversation. We turned on a podcast around 6pm,

Here we go! My race needs are all prepped and packed for the Superior Fall Trails 2017 50 Miler. I've put in my training miles and I've accepted that I have trained as well as I can and I will trust in it to get me through. My plan was a 50-70 miles per week hybrid plan, and in July I ran almost 200 miles (including taking a week off after RUTS and also taking a week of vacation where my running wasn't 100% on schedule). In August I ran over 200 miles for the first time in a month. I feel good about my August training but I know I didn't meet all the targets. I am proud of my commitment to strength training and cross training, though I could most certainly do better in both departments next time. Things I've been planning for and obsessing about include: 1. Weather & what to wear: forecast right now is for clear skies Friday and Saturday. This is good for trail conditions to be more dry than muddy. Mud slows you down substantially and of course is an extra