Adam Signs up for 100-mile Ultramarathon

Cindy took this photo of me signing up for the Burning River 100. This is a 100-mile race that takes place in northern Ohio in July 2012. There's a 30-hour time limit and I'd love to finish in under 24 hours. In 2011 I knocked out a few marathons and a 50km+ race with minimal training, so I'm excited about a new challenge.

I remember after my first marathon in 2001 that I could barely walk for several days after the race. At that point I couldn't even imagine running another step. Fast forward a few years and I ran my first back-to-back marathons (Virginia on Saturday, North Carolina on Sunday) and loved the experience. The following year I ran a 50-miler and felt great. The intimidating part about the 50-miler was how much "unknown" territory there was. I knew what it was like to run 33 miles, but that left 17 miles of "unknown" out there on the trails. Those were the intimidating miles.

I have no plans to run anything beyond 50 miles as I train for this 100-mile race, which means I'll be facing 50 miles of "unknown". In my imagination it's like the path ahead of me goes dark and I don't know what to expect. How hard will it be? What will be my greatest enemy? Quads? Stomach? Sleepiness? Blisters? Doubt?

I'm going to do by best to prepare for the challenge and I'm basing my training plan on this schedule. I'm also looking for people to help as crew and pacers, so if anybody wants a memorable experience on the trails of Northern Ohio drop me a line. Stay tuned for more details...