Thru Endurance We Conquer!

 The hardest part about vacation races? Not being able to set foot on the course and so not really knowing what to prepare for and how to train. I’v been so busy with scouting Tabeguache and working on that FKT (attempt three coming later…) that I’ve forgotten how important it is to really study course maps and profiles. And to also use the resources at hand such as facebook to get more intel on the terrain and course. Going in blind with just a glance at the course profile served me well at the Colossal Cave 55k, so why would the Oracle Rumble 50 mile be any different? Well, a few miles to the north and on a much more remote passage of the AZT meant both harder terrain and a not as well used trail. One of those I could have prepared for - the other not so much. Looking north on the AZT from Tiger Mine Rd Preparing better would have meant doing more then just plugging the course GPX into both Garmin and Gaia and then only looking at Garmin’s elevation gain. According to Garmin, it was

 Third year in a row for the Bangs Canyon World Championship and the most un-Bangs weather I’ve seen. Sure, it was cold. But the sun was shining and the course was mostly dry with no mud to be seen. That meant all the speed demons came out to play and my chance of defending my title was slim to none. Nothing if not realistic! That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it my best shot and try to run hard and smart.  There were about five times as many people on the start line this year as compared last and maybe twice as many as 2022. The speedsters took off super fast, including two women I didn’t know, as well as Lexi and Michelle. I was hoping to keep the gap between myself and those two close. I know I’m nowhere nearly as fast as them for shorter distances, but maybe this would be long enough to tip the scales in my favor. After all, I don’t have the speed like I did when I was their age, but I’ve swapped it for endurance. Lexi’s done an 50 miler, but they both tend to favor the sub 50

 I hope. I completely spaced on any writing last year for a number of reasons. Time got away from me and I just didn’t want to sit down and put proverbial pencil to proverbial paper aka turn my computer on and start typing! That will change. Now, that’s not to say it was a dull year. I had a lot of adventures, miles covered and trails explored. There were sunrises, sunsets. I just never said anything about them. I had a lot on my mind pondering different dreams and goals and how as we change our goals should change. Again, kept them quiet. I don’t know if people actually care about any of that, or the race reports I used to post. I know I’m still looking at people’s reports from events so hopefully others care about mine!  There’s a lot to catch up from 2023 and I will try to do my best. I’ll post things in chronological order - which might not be the order I write them! I’ll also try to make sure to get photos as appropriate in the posts to capture the essence of what I am trying to s