The Barn

Two farming analogies have always intrigued me when it comes to ultra training and racing. The first one usually comes to mind a couple weeks before a big race. It's the old "the hay's in the barn" comment which inevitably means the training is done and there is nothing left to do but suffer through the taper and get ready for race day.

The other is, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the "smell of the Barn." For me, this usually comes around No Hands Bridge when I am close enough to the Finish line to know that I'll need to run every step of the last three miles and hope for the best.

Well, going into this year's race I can say, with some degree of confidence, that the "hay's in the Barn." In the past eight weeks I have logged weeks of 98, 91, 92, 89, 87, 145, 95, and 100 miles and I feel as though I have done everything I can to prepare, specifically, for the WS100 coming 13 days from today.

In addition, I managed to pull together months of 313, 288, 368, 358 and 460 since January so I think I have what I need to make a go at a sub-17 hour finish.

But, all that said, we still need to wait for the Race Organizers to figure out which course we'll run and then we can all decide, individually and collectively, what it will take to get to that place where we begin to "smell the Barn."

Until then, I hope you all enjoy the taper and all that it means:)