Midnight Masochist

It has been said that, "Obsessive is just a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated."  I like the sound of that.

Two weekends ago, feeling recovered from the marathon training segment, I jumped back into trail running with both feet.  It's the only way.  The 3h 45min juant - covering 20.6 miles - left me nearly incapacitated for about 48 hours, but it was completely worth it.  I had a blast.  The weather was great, and the company was even better.  But to say that there was still some moisture in the ground would be an understatement.  We all crashed through the streams without a care.  Once you're wet, you're pretty much wet for good on this trail.  Shoes that drain quickly are a must.

As we were cruising along the one relatively flat stretches, Dave mentioned that he ran a few miles there at night, and it was pretty spooky.  (I've run it very early in the morning, too, but knowing the sun was coming up soon was very comforting.) Just like that, an idea for an adventure hatched.  In short order, the seemingly innocuous comment morphed from, "wouldn't it crazy if..." to "won't it be awesome when..."  Game on!

And thus, the Midnight Masochist was born.  A few weeks from now, a handful of SLUGs (Saint Louis Ultrarunners Group) will descend upon a ~20 mile section of trail in West County to make a double out-and-back of the 20.6mi stretch, widely regarded as the toughest trail anywhere around.  Headlamps will be required.  There's a good chance extra batteries will be a good idea as well, considering we'll be starting close to midnight, and finishing some 9-10 hours later.  Give or take a bit.

What will it feel like?  How slow should I go?  How much should I eat?  Can I handle tons of caffeine? Those are the questions running through my head.  As you might imagine,  I'm excited about this in a way most people would not be;  It is odd, but I'm both reasonably nervous, yet supremely confident I can do it.  It's been a long time since I did the 50k last year, so I'm really excited to forge ahead to a new personal best for distance covered by foot in any single event.  I think the group will keep me in check, and help me to finish strong.

"Some dream of great accomplishment.  Others stay awake and do it." ~Unknown.