First Blog/First 50k

[Amanda Stickel]

Hey it's Friday at 7:31am and we are picking up the rental car at 11 am today, I have never written a blog before but I've got a lot on my mind so here goes. So we picked my first ultra marathon in 2.5 years, and 2nd ever to be the USA National Championship or Caumsett 50k, this Sunday at 8:30am. I am scared to death we have our goals set and for some reason I am scared that they might be to high and I won't meet them. It is mine, my Dad's and my 2 uncles expectations that I can run in the 3:40's that would be anywhere from approx 7:05-7:30 pace. This is technically a reasonable goal as long as weather is not a factor which it looks to be one. I did a 20.8 mile time trial run earlier at 7:08 pace which would put me at 3:43. I did a half marathon where just about everything that could go wrong did and ran 1:30:12 which if I kept the same pace which I know I wouldn't puts me around 3:33, if I remember correctly. But if you put it in one of those calculators that figures that you will slow down with distance and time I had three different calculators tell me that I should run 3:44, 3:44 and 3:45. I also did a 30 miler going as slow as I could possibly go and averaged 8:22's. So the goal seems to be realistic as long as weather conditions aren't as bad as they are calling for. I know there are a few people coming that are betting that I can't run those times. And speaking of people coming last year's winner who supposedly is not coming only ran 3:50 and 2nd place was like 4:11. This year there are about 6 women that are capable of breaking 4 hours it's ridiculous. One women coming is Kami Semick, who was 2nd in the WORLD in the 100k this past season. The other women are nothing to sneeze at either, one of the best 50/100 milers, Connie Gardner, 2007 50k winner Anna Fyodorova, amazing runner Annette Bednosky, and when she is around normally Anne Lundbaugh (spelling????) is around who is also one of the top in the nation. There are a few more I should mention too but I forget their results. Also on the mens side Michael Wardian is coming and I wonder if he'll be after his own course record? He ran a marathon a few weeks ago in around 2:23.
There are also a lot of people that I have met through facebook that are coming that I hope to meet but with my shyness and social anxiety I hope I'll be able to. Just remember I'll be the girl with a braid and with her dad/coach looking scared to death.....lol... but I hope to meet you all and maybe get some pictures with some of you.