Sunday, January 25, 2009

50K for my 50th Birthday?

Running my first marathon, meeting my goals, and feeling healthy after may be dangerous. I am seriously considering run/walking a 50K for my 50th birthday. I had a flight cancel this weekend and used the time and free wifi to do some blog stalking. Apparently, amongst ultra-marathoners, the thing to do is run your age in miles on your birthday. There is no way I could do 50 miles in three months, but my brain is telling me that 50K is a possibility. My requirements for this experience are quite extensive. The run has to be on or as close to my birthday as possible. There should be no monster hills (I HATE hills). The run should have a very generous cutoff time. And finally, it should be convenient to my location. I think I found one that meets 3 of the 4 criteria. The Lake Waramaug Ultra Marathon is on my actual birthday, the website says that the course is "gently" rolling loops around scenic Lake Waramaug, and there are also 50mile and 100K options, so the course will be open long enough for me to finish comfortably. The downside is that it is in Connecticut and kind of out of the way, so I'd have to rent a car and drive a good hour from any airport I would fly into. I'm still looking for other options, but for now this looks like the best one for my goals.

On the marathon recovery front; recovery is going well, I took Monday off and have been running 30 to 60 minutes at a very slow pace since then. As soon as I finish this post, I'll be going for a 90 minute "long" run.

4 comments:

David Ray said...

Good plan! My 50th is coming up next month. I'll be doing a 50k in Alabama but that's not really a birthday run.

johnmaas said...

I think the heat got to you in Phoenix.
Aw heck, just go for it!!!!
Welcome to the dark side.....
John

Jessica said...

If that is not convenient, a lot of people do a 50K for 50 close to where they live....they plan a route and invite any and every runner they know to join them for parts or all of the run. It helps maybe to have two big loops where you can stop by and re-fuel and go to the bathroom, etc...or have places every 5 or so miles for people to meet you. Just a thought...might be more entertaining! Jess

JojaJogger said...

Thanks for the idea Jess, that will be plan B for now. There is a 4.67 mile loop I could use for that option.