I mentioned on Monday that I signed up for another race on Saturday, a race which is two days from now. A race whose website has crashed for the moment.

I had an epiphany while running last Saturday. I had been thinking about running a 5K just to see if I could squeak under 30 minutes finally, but then I realized I could run the Grand Traverse instead. I wasn’t even sure of the date of the race while I was running, or what the distance options where, so I plotted as I ran, unsure of whether or not I could actually put those thoughts into fruition.

I had considered running the Grand Traverse before, but I thought that it would be too soon after the marathon. I thought I’d be totally wrecked by the MMM, and it would take weeks of recovery. I wasn’t even certain I could run Wild Duluth, which is why I didn’t sign up until I had completed the MMM. But I recovered well, so I’m in good shape to run it.

I realized I would be running the trails anyway, so I might as well take advantage of a fun event, a chance to do a point to point run rather than a dreaded out & back, and a couple of aid stations along the way. It will also ensure I get up and get going early enough to complete my long run in time to attend the UMD-Whitecaps hockey game in the afternoon.

I chose the ~16 mile option, though I’d have preferred more like an 18 mile option. 20 seemed too long. I hope I can complete it in maybe 4:30, but I haven’t put much effort into looking at what that would take. If their website stays down, I’ll just have to wing it. From what I gather, this race is very low key. The time starts when you get off the bus. That’s it. It’s certainly a good opportunity to run a race without being a slave to my watch.

I’m going to use this as a long, challenging training run for Wild Duluth. I’m going to run hard, but not race-level effort. I can compare the pace to my pace from this spring’s Zumbro and last year’s Harder n Hell half and see how I’ve improved. I am also going to practice consuming more food and drink while racing, to try to improve my on-the-go nutrition. Wild Duluth is twice as long, so I’m not sure I’ll get anything else out of this race that will be applicable to WD. Just time on my feet on the course, and that’s pretty darn good.

So, finish around 4.5 hours without giving max race effort, eat and drink more, avoid barfing/incontinence/injury/death, and have fun. There are my race goals!