Short Horizons

I am very excited about the next two months!  I get to run an 100 miler this month in the county where my family immigrated from Europe and settled to over three centuries ago.  It's going to be a very challenging weekend, but the experience and the unknowns is what I'm looking forward to the most. And, 100 milers aren't something I have much experience with but my attitude is to just get out on the trail and "get it done".

Even though I'm looking forward to the race, it's next month when I will be doing my best to contain my excitement. After a backpacking/fastpacking adventure in Lassen National Park, Olga and I will head down to Squaw Valley, Auburn, and several points in between to watch, not run or pace, what I consider to be the ultimate 100 miler around.  I've never ran in Western States, but did get to pace from Forest Hill to the Track in 2007 and it was the first 100 miler that I became aware of when I began running ultra distances.  And for that entire Saturday before pacing, I hung out in Foresthill beginning around 9am and enjoyed every second of it.  Getting to see Hal come through, feeling the disappointment when I saw Brian get dropped off by a car in the school parking lot after his disappointment on the track the prior year, watching AJW's entire family crew for him, and watching all the other runners come through was something I will never soon forget.  It still seems like it happened last week. Great memories.

This past weekend, while dusting Olga's "buckle chest", I opened it up and looked at a few of the buckles, especially the three that had cougars on them.  I would like to have one of my own some day.  And, not necessarily to have the buckle as much as to go through the entire experience. From making it through the lottery for once, training my ass off, and experiencing firsthand the climb to Emigrant Pass in the early morning hours, the canyons and the infamous heat, the extended 16 mile descent down Cal St. and how my quads will feel in the process,  taking in all the coldness of the American River, and, eventually, making it to the white bridge.  Right now, they're all just hopes and dreams in my mind, but one day,... one day.  And, just like the race last September that qualified me for the 2010 lottery, the one this month is for the 2011 lottery.  I may sound like some crazed, obsessed runner, considering how many other 100 milers are out there to run. And, I don't discount in the least any of them. I'm just intrigued with the history of WS and would like to have an opportunity to experience it firsthand.  It's something that's difficult to explain unless you feel it strongly yourself.  Some day...