And now, for something really hard

I’m going to try something that I am not sure I can do. This is generally against my ideology. There are a lot of things, people and events, in life that make me feel helpless and incapable. Therefore, in cases where I volunteer to undertake something, it only makes sense to only volunteer for those things that I am pretty sure I can do. In the range of 95% certainty. Why set myself up for failure in my hobbies? I do these things to make me feel good.

But I had a lot of fun at the Bandera 50K. In looking over my Garmin GPS results, it said I spent 33 minutes at the aid stations out of the 7 hours I was on the course. That’s kind of a long time. And I hurt my ankle. I’d like to try another one.

There’s another 50K in May in Los Alamos, NM (the Jemez Mountain Trail Run 50K).

I did the ½ marathon distance there last year (and got lost, for 6 bonus miles). It was pretty. I’m told the rest of the course is prettier than the Caldera Marathon course, which is one of my favorites. There’s a heck of a lot of climbing in this 50K, and all of it at high altitudes ranging from 7000 ft to 10,480 ft at the top of Caballo Mountain. So this one will be much harder than Bandera. I estimate it will take me 10 to 11 hours to finish.

Here’s the hard part. The day after the 50K is the Santa Fe bicycle century, which I am planning on riding. 103 miles which will take me on a normal day about 6:45 to finish. K and F did this double last year. Of course, they are good experienced ultra runners. (in other words, crazy.)

I’m not sure I can do this. I think I can. This will be hard.