Devil Dog will be my first new hundred of the year. While I don’t have a problem running the same race every year or going back and doing a race multiple times if it’s convenient, I do enjoy running new races. Each race brings its own unique challenges and it’s fun to try and figure them out. Not that running a hundred miles is starting to get stale or anything. Ha! As if that will ever be a thing.
After 7 plus years of running ultras, this will also be my first time racing in the month of December. Typically this is my off-season and based on my (lack of) motivation over the past couple months, my body definitely knows this. December racing will mean more running at night (14+ hours) and colder weather. The former isn’t that big of an issue for me (knock on wood), however the latter could definitely cause me problems. Especially if the current forecast holds which is calling for 5 hours of rain overnight with temperatures down near freezing. I think I’ve got a better gear set up for these conditions, however you never really know until you experience them. My strategy will be to dress like it’s 10 degrees colder than it really is.
Demographics
I’ve always been interested in who else signs up to run these races with me. The below charts are based on data I pulled from Ultrasignup. While their database is obviously not all inclusive, I’ve found it to be a good representation of the general experience level of each runner.
Fun fact. The four most experienced runners have almost as many 100 mile finishes (159) as the other 88 runners combined (160).
Expectations
So this should be interesting. I’m heading into the race a smidgeon undertrained compared to where I’ve been over the past couple years. This training block has been light on miles (5/day vs. 6-8) and long runs (4 vs. 6-9) as I’ve been recovering from some long runs over this time (ES100, MDT FKT attempt). Now it’s not like I’ve been sitting on the couch for the past 4 months, but my load has been light enough that I shouldn’t be expecting an amazing day. Based on this I’m going to attempt a more conservative pacing plan to start out, which may end up being more beneficial from a finish time standpoint than if I’d been knocking out 60 mile weeks this entire time.
A complicating factor (because there’s always a complicating factor) is that I’ve had some old man moments over the past couple weeks. About 10 days ago, I fell while out for a run and think I may have bruised a rib. This hasn’t really impacted my training and I was able to knock out a 20 miler without too many issues, but it is noticeably sore. If anyone knows the difference between 20 and a hundred miles it’s me at this point. My hope is that it loosens up and never bothers me. My fear is that it causes some imbalance in my running mechanics that leads to a long, uncomfortable second half of a race.
But it’s a hundred mile race, so I’ll probably be surprised by some other issue cropping up. I mean, I wouldn’t want this to be easy after all.