Running Goals

Today was day 1 of my taper for the Paatuwaqatsi 50k. The great thing about tapering after a demanding training cycle is that you finally have time to stop and think. The bad thing about tapering? Plenty of time to think.

Specifically, time to think things such as "what have I gotten myself into," "I am definitely going to die," and "why did I eat all those doughnuts?"

And on a completely unrelated note, why am I so fat?

As a break from those sorts of thoughts, I decided to go over my (ridiculously optimistic) plans for the rest of this year. First of all, on September 8 there is Paatuwaqatsi, a 50k through some of the oldest villages in North America.

Did I say oldest?  I meant most inconveniently located. 

Assuming (optimistically) that I survive finish my first ultra without ill effect, my plan is to jump back into training and then run the Man Against Horse 25m on October 1 and Cave Creek Thriller 50k on October 20. After a few more long runs, this will (theoretically) prepare me for the McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 miler on December 8.

Theoretically

What do you think? Is this too optimistic? Or do I need to just believe?

(Forget about believing--I would rather run for 14 hours than sit through this whole video)