The Start Of Something Awesome

I'm back! It's been awhile, but have decided to try blogging about one specific thing right now (especially since I usually wrote about really random things), and because this one thing is so stupid and crazy... I had to write about it somewhere.

So a bit of backstory. Back in April, I was reading a magazine called Trail Runner and came across a race called "The Rut." It's a true mountain race where you run up a mountain- simple, right? To make it more enticing, it was in the short long-distance category of 50k (31 miles), easy, right? Everything about it sounded awesome and epic (crazy is implied), so I went to the website for it, immediately, to see when the event is held and if I could sign up for it.

Run The Rut 50K: Big Sky, Montana from eli weiner on Vimeo.


It's in Montana and in September which would allow for ample time to train and find a flight to the race! When I went to register, I found out they were sold out, 500 runners only. Luckily, they had a wait list. My logic was as follows, "No one ever gets in off wait lists. I sign up now on the wait list, and I'll plan for the race next year." The plan was executed, and I promptly forgot about the race thinking I'd be signing up in the fall.

Fast forward now to August. I now live in Pittsburgh, and after a brief hiatus from running due to some funkiness in my knee, I decided to start checking out some local parks and trails. I was feeling good and found a local trail runners group and got an itch to enter some races... then I get an email, "You made it into the Rut 50K! Immediate Reply Needed." I had 48 hours to come up with a decision. Keep in mind, this was August 6th and the race is September 13th, a little over 6 weeks away.

I panicked a little, called my brother, paced around my office, got really excited then nervous then I responded and said sign me up! So with that, I'm headed out to race up and down a mountain, at high elevation, over the course of 31 miles, and the race is hurtling toward me in less than 30 days! You know what they say, go big or go home...

Crazy? Probably. Stupid? I think most people would agree. Awesome? That's why I signed up!

I'll keep you posted with how training and the race goes! I've already knocked out some good workouts, but many more to come.