After my spontaneous half-marathon on Sunday I decided to take an extra rest day on Monday, I spent a couple quiet hours in my neglected garden.
On Saturday at 5:00 p.m., is the annual Fidelitas Night Run in Karlsruhe-Ruppurr. I will be running the 80 km (50 mile) event for the fourth year, this year accompanied by a relay team from my running club. When I signed up for this event I was already signed up for the 100 km race that I finished 10 days ago, so I decided to ask friends in the club if anyone wanted to watch me suffer through this race. Luckily I found four willing volunteers among the group that I typically run with.
I completed the first 50 miles of the recent 100 km race in 9 hours and 9 minutes. It would be nice if I could do this again on Saturday, it would be a new personal best, my current best time for the race being 9:25:56.
The weather prognosis for Saturday is looking ugly - almost 90°F with the possibility of a thunderstorm. In any case I am looking forward to Saturday, this will be the first time that I will be running with someone during an ultra, nothing like sharing misery with good company.
I think the relay team is especially well suited for the race. The first stage of the relay is relatively flat, but about half of it is over open fields that offer no shade - it can be brutal. Sabine will be running this stage, she is an experienced marathon runner. With her small frame she can handle the heat better than most in our club.
The second stage starts out right away with one of the major uphill sections of the course and just keeps getting worse. But this should be no problem for Ironman finisher Uli, she has the strength and endurance needed for this section!
The third stage also has its share of hills, and it will be dark during the latter part. This stage will be run by relay rookie Vera, but with her long legs and powerful stride I don't think she will have any problem with the run...but will she survive my bad jokes...in any case my pace is slightly slower and very consistent during this stage, we'll cruise right through it!
I am especially delighted that friend Conny will be running the last part of the relay. She is an experienced marathon runner and has paced other members of the running club for this race - I know I can depend on her during my darkest hours. This is the longest stage, 23 km (14 miles) and I will be breaking down, Conny can be gentle or a slave driver, whatever I need. In any case I need to be dead before she will let me give up - after staying up all night to run with me she won't accept anything less as an excuse!
Wow! You are a maniac, 50 miles 10 days after the 100k. I woulda thought you'd been hanging around this part of town...Good luck!