I'm having a really hard time concentrating on work or anything other than the PCTR Woodside 50K coming up this weekend. Every time I look at the list of race entrants I see another stellar name capable of charging the course to a great time. Bev Anderson-Abbs, Ryan Commons, Will Gotthardt, Scott Dunlap and the course record holder Michael Buchanan are all entered as of today. There might well be other contenders for the top spots that I'm not aware of and I am (literally) on the edge of my seat thinking about it.
If I'm going to try to run more of the PCTR Ultra series this year I'm going to have to compartmentalize my running obsession so that I'm not so distracted at work. Everytime Google Reader shows a new entry in my browser I pounce on it hoping it is a running blog I subscribe to. I want to wrap myself in all things running.
I even use zinsli.com to do some pre-race stalking of the competition. It's illuminating (and at times deceptive) to see what the competition has been racing recently. For example, Michael Buchanan, seems to have run slower in 2007 than he did in 2006 in the Quad Dipsea. But without a detailed race report with weather, list of competitors and other factors to evaluate performance the data is interesting but not predictive. According to the results I found Michael has a marathon PR of 2:32! The value of sites that aggregate race results is to help you know who to watch out for. Mr. Buchanan was already on his Mtn Bike starting his next workout when I finished the Woodside 50K last year. Enough said!
Part of my excitement is generated by my desire to race against myself on a course I know very well. I ran 4:13 at the Woodside 50K (and only got fourth!) last year. I look forward to setting a PR and getting a reliable measure of my fitness and the early results of my new training regime. For now, it is time to relax, focus on the last details of my race plan and to start (calmly) visualizing a fast, successful race.
1 comment:
Glad to read that Ryan and I aren't the only ones who have become complete nutjobs over pre-race stats. ;-)
The 24 kid (Weil?) at the bottom of the list has a 2:36 marathon and a 2nd place behind only Victor Ballesteros at one of the PCTR 50K's (I can't recall)..so throw him into the mix as well.
[Well done on the blog, good stuff]
Will G.
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