What Lies Within Us

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

In about 5 days, I'll be attempting to run 12 miles more than I have ever gone in one run.  I'll be doing the Oil Creek 100K (62 miles).  I'm looking forward to this challenge and feel both anxious and excited. 

Anxious because I haven't been getting in huge mileage the past few weeks.  Anxious because I haven't run this course before and don't really know what to expect.  Anxious because my achilles, which feels better now, was hurting on my right leg after running the Akron relay.

Excited because there's nothing quite like an ultra race.  Training runs are fun, but races bring together all the people you don't see as much as you'd like to throughout the year.  The ultra community is small relative to that of the marathon or 5K crowd, but that's what makes it such a tight-knit group of people.

As I countdown the days until the weekend, another feeling I feel is a feeling of calmness.  With each ultra I do, the feeling of anxiety gets delayed closer and closer to the starting line.  Whether the distance is 50K or 100K, the game-plan is the same.  Stay fueled, take salt, hydrate, pace yourself and keep moving forward.  It's amazing what tasks seem impossible in running and in life.  It's even more amazing when you finish an "impossible" task and realize all it takes is a belief that you can do it and taking it one step at a time.