Ramblin' On

So sitting at Geneva airport this morning I was a mixed bag of emotions. This is it , I am on my way to try and complete 100 bloody miles. Super nervous , very excited , a little confident. Have I trained enough? How will I get on running at these altitudes? Should I have started running sooner during the winter season?

Looking back to January 1^st when I got my place on the race it is so long ago. Yeah I still continued the usual winter antics for a while but it was not as if I didn't exercise at all. I am always doing stuff whether it was skiing, ski touring or some light running. The way I see it is that it's not as if I have been sitting on the sofa and just decided in January that I want to run long distances , I have done a fair few races and have been super active for years. I have always said that for me one of the key reasons I can do this distance stuff is not because I can run particularly well it is due to the fact I have spent years doing long long mountain days in the Alps but more so in Scotland.

It is true that a huge percent of this Ultra stuff is down to the mind. You just need to be able to keep going if your tired , hungry and sore and all my years in Scotland in Summer and Winter really have shaped me well for getting over these things or should I say suffering through these things. Now Ultras are very very hard but sometimes I think they get built up so much by people who spend all their time in nicely air conditioned gyms and plod along on treadmills for maybe an hour then go to attempt Marathons or more and are worried about this wall thing everyone talks about. I can honestly say I have never noticed this wall thing but I am sure I have ploughed through a few of them over the years. My view is Yeah its going to be bloody difficult so get on with it and stop moaning you knew it wouldn't be easy. Now I am not slating these people one bit , good for them but if you spend all your time training in nice little cosy environments and then throw yourself into big races where you will be wet , cold , it's dark and your on your own some people will just not cope and the easy thing to do is give up. A strong mental attitude is absolute key and that only comes with not just training that way but it being a part of your life. I have so much respect for runners who live and work in cities and have families and still manage to go and do really tough races. I live and train in the mountains , on some pretty tough trails , at night and sometimes in horrible weather. I am used to being cold , very very cold. I am used to going for hours without food. How hard can 100 miles really be?? I am under no illusion this will be easy. It is going to be brutally sore at times but mentally I believe I have what it takes. The only factors that I fear are the obvious ones of can I really take my legs 100 miles before they just give up and injury. It is such a long way to take your legs that yes I know they will get completely agony and probably even before halfway but pain really can be dealt with. The worry is and always will be getting an injury. I know if that happens then there is nothing that can be done and sometimes you just have to accept that you gave it your all but if something is just not right then the wise thing to do is stop and not end up turning a minor injury into something that could ruin my running altogether. I would be totally gutted if this happened to me but it should always be remembered that in the long run(no pun intended) the best thing to do is stop. In saying that , if I manage to get through most of it injury free I can assure everyone I will be giving it absolutely everything I can find to finish. I totally expect heaps of moaning and complaining , probably some tears along the way and of course an abundance of swearing.

I had best stop rambling and go get some coffee before my flight. Next stop Denver.