Susan Donnelly Ultramarathon Trail Runner. Motivational Speaker. http://www.susanruns100s.com
Easiest 100 Miler or Hardest? Date : April 3, 2009
In about an hour, I’m heading to Umstead 100-miler, the easiest 100-miler in the country. Or is it? The course, in Raleigh, North Carolina, is almost as flat as you could wish for. It’s a wide, finely-crushed gravel surface. And it’s 5 x 12.5-mile loops with 3 aid stations on each loop, so there’s plenty of aid along the way. Still, I’ve DNF’d (did not finish) here more than any other race – three times! Two were injuryrelated. I wasn’t healed up from injuries to go more than 25 or 50 miles. But one was not. I learned a lot about the course and myself in those DNFs. For one, the course is easy to underestimate. Because it’s so flat and easy, it’s tempting to go out too fast with the belief you can magically carve 5 hours off your previous 100-miler times. Do that and you’ll go down in flames. You still have to respect the distance, and 100 miles just isn’t a cakewalk. The race also confirmed how hard gravel road is for me – mentally. You go and go and when you look up, you’re still just as far away from that turn in the road. Give me rocky, twisting trail any day. I can’t waltz into this race without giving it the focus it deserves.
1/2