The Hawk 100 is on Saturday!

I’m very excited! I’m very nervous! I’m very ready to be on the trails!

The Hawk is race #3 in the slam. My halfway point. The closest race to Kansas City.

I’ve been worrying about this race since I decided to try the slam. I’m not very experienced in technical trail running. It is definitely a weak spot for me! I have a LOT of excuses. From “the trails are too far away” to “I don’t look good with a beard.” But on Saturday, the excuses don’t matter.

In case I haven’t explained, for the super slam of Kansas ultrarunning, I must complete every race. A DNF ends the slam. Then this becomes a blog about…I don’t know…microwave cooking, I guess? Needlefelt? Bird…baiting?

But let’s not think about failure! Sure, I could have trained on trails more. I could have done more strength training. I might have upped my supplement game.

All of those are great “could haves.”

What I did, though, was pretty good. I started way back in January with cactus roulette.

I did very well! I ran the nighthawk 50k.

I feel like I did good there, too. I ran the snake 10 miler and was super at running the runnable sections. And Sydney and I had a really nice time running some loops during the trailhawks birthday party.

My fitness is up, thanks to some recent long runs. I’ve taken a break from working overtime to rest. We have a good nutrition and hydration plan.

And, of course, I have the world’s greatest crew and real top-notch pacers signed up to carry/drag me kicking, screaming, whining, and crying to the finish.

So here I am, somewhere between psyched-up and psyched-out. It’s pleasantly uncomfortable, like a sauna, or a necktie with a cool pattern.

Let’s GO!