On Saturday I line up for my second 100 mile running attempt at the Badger 100 down south of Madison, WI. This is a rail-trail race, meaning that the course is almost entirely flat gravel path for the entirety. We start at the far end of the course and run to the race HQ in Belleville, WI, run past the HQ a few miles to a bar, and then turn around and run all the way back to Orangeville, IL, before turning around again to finish back in Belleville. Basically, we’re running a 30 mile segment three times, with a little tail to the bar in the middle.

I’ve done a few other races on this trail before, including the Badger 100K, which covers everything I’ll be seeing this weekend minus the tail to Dot’s bar. That means that there shouldn’t be any surprises in terms of the course, and everything should feel familiar. That frees me to just focus on taking care of myself and ensuring I’m doing everything I need to do to be successful.

In particular, since this is a flat and straight course, I’m going to start the race doing my 70/30 intervals (run 0.7 and walk 0.3 of every mile) right away. My goal is to keep myself moderated and consistent for as long as I possibly can. Hopefully, this will allow me to keep my legs a bit fresher as the day goes on, and give me more capacity towards the final hours of the event. I had great success with this method for the second half of the Sugar Badger 50K a couple years ago, and I’m hoping to be able to use this technique to meet my goals for this year.

Speaking of goals, my “moon shot” goal is to beat 30 hours. I was able to do the Tuscobia 80 in under 30 hours, and despite being twenty miles shorter, I was also pulling a sled on soft snow in winter, and did zero steps of running for the entire event. That’s giving me some confidence that I can do something similar here. The race cut-off is 36 hours, so even if I don’t make the sub-30 goal I shouldn’t have any problem getting it done within the time limit. My training block for this year has been very solid, including a really great double-20 day for my peak.

Mike, Beth, and Lisa are all going to be around this weekend to help crew and pace and make sure I’m not doing anything stupid (well, beyond running 100 miles). I’m looking forward to some nice trail time with them, and even though I know I can probably cover the distance without crew, it’s always just a pick-me-up to have friends greet me and take care of me throughout the race. Granted, I know a ton of people who are working the aid stations at this race, so I feel like I’ll be surrounded by friends the whole time, but having the crew around is a wonderful perk. The way that the course is laid out I’ll get to see them every 10 miles or so.

Ok, time to get back to work, or at least try and concentrate while my mind wanders to packing lists and last minute shopping trips…