By the time midnight rolled around on December 8th, 1,360 people had entered the lottery for the Way Too Cool 50k wanting one of 900 spots available...much better odds over last year when there were only 500 spots! Race lotteries generally turn me into a ball of anxiety because my life feels like it's hanging in suspended animation until I know for sure whether I'm in or out. Lucky for me, it was only about 24 hours until I'd learned I snagged an entry this year. Huzzah!
My infiltration into the California trail running scene has come along pretty recently. I have a couple years under my belt and only one ultramarathon (barely). It amazes me that I live somewhere that almost any weekend of the year I can drive an hour or two and find a trail race. I could be flying down switchbacks smelling Eucalyptus or climbing endlessly up a mountain and look back over my shoulder at the Golden Gate Bridge. I can be wading across rivers and stomping through streams beneath enormous Redwoods, or I could be running for miles along the western most edge of the country hundreds of feet above the Pacific Ocean. I am constantly in awe. I love that I get to do this.
And then there are these races that you hear about and read about and they are the races that in normal runner conversation the inevitable question comes up...so have you done Dipsea? Double Dipsea? Quad Dipsea? Miwok? Headlands 100? American River? I could go on. These are the races that have a reputation. They have history. As a new comer to the ultra scene, being included in these races is like experiencing a piece of California running legend.
Way Too Cool is one of these races for me because of a couple different reasons. It's got history. Part of the course is run on Western States trail, which could be the closest I ever get to it. Ann Trason came in second overall and set a course record in 1995 while I was running cross country in high school in Indiana having never even heard of an ultra. Plus, the frog cupcakes.
My 13 week countdown started today. I've planned my way to the start line on March 9th with the bones of this training plan with some tweaks and a trail marathon or maybe two stuck in. My goal is to just get as much trail time in as possible and get there injury free. My goal is to experience the Way Too Cool 50k and run it strong because I do feel honored to be a part of it.
Cool.
My infiltration into the California trail running scene has come along pretty recently. I have a couple years under my belt and only one ultramarathon (barely). It amazes me that I live somewhere that almost any weekend of the year I can drive an hour or two and find a trail race. I could be flying down switchbacks smelling Eucalyptus or climbing endlessly up a mountain and look back over my shoulder at the Golden Gate Bridge. I can be wading across rivers and stomping through streams beneath enormous Redwoods, or I could be running for miles along the western most edge of the country hundreds of feet above the Pacific Ocean. I am constantly in awe. I love that I get to do this.
And then there are these races that you hear about and read about and they are the races that in normal runner conversation the inevitable question comes up...so have you done Dipsea? Double Dipsea? Quad Dipsea? Miwok? Headlands 100? American River? I could go on. These are the races that have a reputation. They have history. As a new comer to the ultra scene, being included in these races is like experiencing a piece of California running legend.
Way Too Cool is one of these races for me because of a couple different reasons. It's got history. Part of the course is run on Western States trail, which could be the closest I ever get to it. Ann Trason came in second overall and set a course record in 1995 while I was running cross country in high school in Indiana having never even heard of an ultra. Plus, the frog cupcakes.
My 13 week countdown started today. I've planned my way to the start line on March 9th with the bones of this training plan with some tweaks and a trail marathon or maybe two stuck in. My goal is to just get as much trail time in as possible and get there injury free. My goal is to experience the Way Too Cool 50k and run it strong because I do feel honored to be a part of it.
Cool.
Yes! I am so excited for you! Way Too Cool is definitely on my list--it sounds like an excellent event. Your training plan looks great--I'm ready to watch you knock this out. Yahoo!
ReplyDeleteWay Too Cool that you made it! :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on getting in - it will be fun seeing you (for a short bit until you have left me in the dust, or mud as the case might be). It's a fun race that's really not all that hard compared to many of the 50Ks in the Bay Area. But all that climbing in the last third of the course is challenging. See you there!
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