Final thoughts before SD 100

With less than 48 hours away from the start of my first 100 miler, the San Diego Endurance Run, I am very nervous and excited. I know that I am severely undertrained and unprepared but hope that the saying that it's more mental than physical holds true. I have a wonderful team and I have the determination to finish; I know my crew/pacers/running buddy will help me through the rough times and I hope my ankles and body hold up.

I have lots of fears and, since blogging is also venting, here are many of my fears/things that I think could kick me in the butt.

• Technical, rocky trails...used to love them but ankle sprains caused me to loathe them...only trained on wide, well-groomed fire roads.
• The endless climbs...my longest climbs in my 3 training runs were less than 1000 feet...yeah, going to be doing double that numerous times over 100 miles.
• Endurance...two 30 milers on "easy" trails did not give me the time on feet practice.
• Almost zero night running experience....only longer-than-a-few-miles night run was when I sprained my ankle badly. 'nuff said.
• Lack of being able to try out equipment...not used to carrying handheld, never tried out night running clothes.
• My ankles...both are now chronic sprain-type. See above about rocky trails.
• Lack of training and so much time off due to injuries means I'm slow like a tortoise...I'm very slow on climbs and legs are not used to climbs...double whammy
• No opportunities to test out nutrition needs, how to fuel. Going to be trying that out during the race.

What do I have going in my favor?

• my running partner- Ryan did HURT100 as his first earliler this year and is one kick butt runner (trails and roads)
• my crew- my boyfriend is awesome and, though he's never crewed for an event like this, he rocks and will help us out!!!! He'll be joined by another experienced runner-friend, Shacky, so that should help when time cutoffs become tighter.
• my pacers- Billy and Lori are very experienced runners who know how to HTFU and make me HTFU
• I've packed my bags and have them organized. Not sure how that helps but it helps my mental state.

I have no idea what will happen this weekend. I'm going to the start line determined to finish...too many people are investing their time in my endeavor to quit. But the reality is that anything can happen to anyone during a 100 miler; even the most experienced and well-trained can have issues arise and have to drop (DNF). So, I know that if anything happens and I have to accept those 3 letters, I gave it my all. During the past 2.5 months, I've dealt with plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, a severely sprained ankle and, despite all that, I'm heading to the start with a shot at seeing it from the other side 100 miles and less than 31 hours later.