What are you doing this weekend?

It’s funny because when I first start running all I wanted to do was complete the Vancouver Sun Run 10km. Once I completed my 10km I wanted to do a half marathon to really challenge myself. Unfortunately a bad car accident three weeks prior to my first half marathon left me unable to walk and with over a year of slow rehab and with my doctor telling me I probably won’t be able to run pain free again.

Until last January 2009, which is when I decided to stop letting the pain in my leg stop me - up until this point road running was too painful - so I signed up for a trail running clinic and 15km Dirty Duo Race because my friend Serge told me trail running would be much easier on my body. A couple weeks into the clinic training one of the instructors told me to change to the 25km race because I would for sure be able to do it. I switched thinking it'd be cool to do a half marathon and then I would have accomplishment all my running goals. But thats the thing with running once you reach one goal there is something way cooler waiting for you at the end.  I went for a post race coffee with some of my girlfriends who had come out to cheer me on and thats when I announced I wanted to run a 50.

Fast forward to September 2009 I decided to sign up for my first 50km race - the North Face Endurance Challenge in San Francisco. And now its here, this Friday morning I’m flying to San Francisco with my friend Stefan, we are both running the 50km course. I’m a mixed bag of emotion but in the end I’m mostly excited. And I can't complain I'm leaving the cold that has taken over Vancouver to go to California where the conditions are supposed to be 17 and partly cloudy.

I am going into the race proud of myself just for entering; I’m pushing my limits and that feels good.  I have trained hard and tried to maintain a well balanced lifestyle while fitting in hours of training and recovery.  I'm doing something that scares me and I think it so important in life to step out of your comfort zone.

And no matter what happens I know I’ll have fun. So without further a-do here is my first pre-race report.

Going into this race I have three primary goals:

1. Have fun and finish
2. Finish in approximately 7 hours
3. Don’t spent too much money shopping in San Fran (or drive Stefan too crazy with my shopping addiction)

The course is described as being situated in the visually stunning Marin Headlands just north of the city and has surprised runners with both its scenery and amount of elevation change. Elevation chart for the course - it looks scary but I plan to break it down in my head into smaller more manageable sections. 

My good friend/adventure racing partner/maybe running partner(??) Chris Price sent me a link to a flyover of the 50 mile course today - Here is the link.

I replied to his email with the following; "Oh god I feel SICK after watching that - WHAT did I get myself into!!”

He replied with probably the most inspiration thing (and totally in Chris fashion) -“You got yourself into the best way to spend a Saturday in North America this weekend.”

Thanks for the support and stay tuned updates!