Ultra , Why Not?

I had met a wonderful group of running moms a few years ago and started running with them on and off early last year. At first, I was afraid to run with them as most of them are experienced runners, Boston qualifiers with tons of races under their belts.  I had a lot of self doubt and didn't want to be "that" slow one, or the one that they had to wait for.   But we all had a few things in common, the love of running and love for our family.  When I first met them, we were all training for a range of distances from half marathons to ultra marathons. I was inspired by their many stories and found myself wanting to run with them.

I spent this past year training with alongside them. I was training for my full and they were training for 100 miler and 100 km races. We spent many runs together chatting and getting to know each other. It had become my therapy to meet with these women from all walks of life and just run and forget about all that was going on in our busy lives for that couple of hours we were out for our long runs.

My 2016 racing season did not go as planned. I spent many days after my fall marathon thinking about all that went wrong and how to do it better for 2017. After a few weeks of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to try something new.  They were nothing but supportive when I asked if they would be interested in running my first ultra marathon with me. I had heard all about their previous races and was just dying to try something new. They were both experienced trail runners and had done a few ultras in the past, so I knew that I would be in good hands.

My buddies had given me a criteria for me when I was looking up races. They did not want to train in the Canadian summer which meant I had to find a Spring race, no races that are just in the forest,  they wanted something with breath taking views and nothing in Utah. We decided on the Monument Valley 50 Mile Race for 2017. I have days where I'm super excited, but most days I try not to think about it, because I am freaking out.

So tomorrow we start our training. ....




Thanks for reading...

Have you ever run and Ultra Marathon?

If so where?

Any Tips for this Newbie??