I loved this race so much last year, I’m heading back for 32 more trips around Killen’s Pond State Park in Felton, DE. This race is structured as a fatass so there’s virtually no aid provided. The entry fee ($50?!?!) goes toward the permit to allow us access to the park overnight and a belt buckle for hundred mile finishers. The RD provides nothing beyond a well marked course and the lowest tech timing method possible: clipboard and pen. And the latter is only available for the 24 hour and hundred mile runners. Those doing the 50K are responsible for counting their own miles.
Third Time’s A Charm
I am writing this preview for the third time as the race has had to be rescheduled twice. The first time was due to the massive snow storm that hit right as the race was going to be occurring. Jon pushed it out two weeks as the forecast was to be very cold the following 10 days. Well, two weeks later the course wasn’t just snow covered, but also quite icy. Some flattish trails near me in southeastern PA were so bad that I was seriously doubting I could cover a hundred miles in the 31.5 hour cutoff. This is a course I easily finished inside 24 hours. It didn’t help that the overnight low was going to be negative when factoring in the windchill. I don’t think anyone would have enjoyed themselves in those conditions. He delayed it one week the second time and it looks like we’re finally going to have a race. The forecast has temperatures getting up into the fifties, which is crazy considering what we’ve experienced over the past month. I’ll probably end up overheating. Sigh.
I’m entering this race in a really odd headspace. It’s a hyper low key event so it has more of a long training run vibe than a normal race atmosphere. Kinda hard to get psyched up for a long training run. Toss in that my recent training volume has been subpar due to the crappy temperatures and complete and utter lack of motivation to spend significant time in it. So my fitness isn’t going to lend itself to a great performance. But it’s February so I doubt I’ll be the only one who “trained” for this race. I’m not sure what conditions the trails will be in so don’t know if a sub-24 hour goal is reasonable or not. A time above this would be fine, but not something that overly excites me.
Overall, I’m just kinda blah about the whole endeavor, which I can assure you is not a great way to approach a hundred mile race. I’m hoping this is just a mid-week thing and I’ll get more amped up as I get closer to the start. I remember how much I enjoyed the event last year and am sure I’ll have just as much fun this year. It will also be great to catch up with some of the other runners who I know from other events.
Hey, maybe this will be pretty awesome after all.