ONE WEEK TO WHISTLER: NERVOUS AND READY

The hard work is done. The hay is in the barn.

It’s time to travel; time to wait.

Last weekend’s big mileage, big vertical and big time-on-feet day pacing at Leadville gave way to a taper week of doing next to nothing. Work was a daily fire drill, and it left me with barely any time to run. I managed 5 miles on Wednesday evening and another 4 1/2 on Thursday evening and felt great for both. I also ran 5 1/2 of a planned 10-mile Saturday run before calling it quits due to some extreme humidity, realizing that forcing myself through the remaining miles would only hurt my chances of having a good day next Sunday at the Meet Your Maker 50-miler in Whistler, B.C.

So that’s it; the work’s done.

A few more loads of laundry, some packing, a haircut, and three nights of sleep in my own bed are all that stands between me and arrival in Whistler on Wednesday. Then I’ll get a few nervous days relaxing in the mountains – likely staring up at menacing Blackcomb Mountain and wondering how exactly we’ll climb it along with an additional 8,000+ feet of vertical. There will be the usual pre-race mind games, but I’ll draw confidence from my training, from previous races like the Pikes Peak Ascent in 2011 and the Leadville Silver Rush 50 in 2012, and I’ll constantly remind myself of the strength and determination I saw Sherrie tap into for nearly 29 hours on the trail last weekend at Leadville – and I WILL finish.

It’s going to be an incredible adventure. I get to share the trail with the top men’s and women’s mountain runners on the planet – Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg. I get to share the trail with friends from Vancouver, Boston, and Austin, Texas. I get to travel beyond U.S. borders for the first time since the Kilimanjaro adventure of 2010, and I get to play in the mountains.

The hard work is done. It’s time to go play!