For you non-French speakers out there, this is a term from gambling which basically means, "No more bets, the game is in play." Well, for me and Ultracentric, "les jeux sont faits." I got official confirmation yesterday that I am in. I'm now focusing all my training and effort toward this event.
To that end, I've been looking for a good 50 mile race to use as a training race. I had several possibilities but I've finally settled on the Heartland 100/50 Mile Run. I think this will be a good race for several reasons:
1. It is October 9th, so I have a full month and a half to recover and continue training for Ultracentric.
2. I can drive (6+ hours) so I can afford it.
3. Even though it's a trail event it's not a difficult or very technical course. In fact, there is an ironic quote on the race website:
"This course is really not technically difficult at all, however, there is virtually no shade and no element protection and the rolling hills at times seem to go on for an eternity. In many ways this course has the potential to wear on her competitors like a 24/48 hour track ultra does...relentless and repetitive, yet different than a track event...exceptionally beautiful."
4. The race is held in Cassoday, Kansas, the "Prairie Chicken Capital of the World." How can you resist that???
The only bad thing is that my family can't come. We've been spoiled because our daughter has not been in school so we've had lots of flexibility. She starts kindergarten in the middle of August so now we will have to plan activities around her school schedule. So I'll be doing this race solo since it starts at 6:30 AM on a Saturday morning.
So now all I have to do is walk and strategize, walk and prepare, walk and plan, walk and walk and walk.
