This run will be the hardest physical exertion I have ever demanded of my body.

To date, the most I’ve ever run in a day is ~27 miles. A marathon + warm up. Tomorrow I will attempt to cover 93 miles on foot. 3x+ my lifetime max. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever even run 93 miles in a single week.

Traditional wisdom says you should progress up to a ~100 mile effort. Go from racing a marathon (26.2 miles) to a 50k (~30 mile), then a 50 mile, followed by a 100k (~60 mile) before finally attempting ~100 miles. I’m not much for traditional wisdom.

I am doing this run; self supported, solo, overnight, on trails, covering ~25k ft of elevation and in remote wilderness with no cell service. Any one of those things might make an effort like this crazy. Doing all of that for my first ultra – is maybe crazy enough for even me.

But just to add a bit more to all of that. I’m not in shape. I’ve run 277 miles so far this year. Averaging 5 miles on 55 runs. I think I’ve only done three double-digit runs. For comparison, the year of my fast marathon I had run 1,227 miles by this point. 4x+ as much.

So here I am attempting a run 3.x my max on 4x less training. I’m the most worried I have ever been that I won’t be able to finish something that I started.

I’ve long been fascinated with the idea of going until failure. I would gaze out at the horizon and wonder how far I could run before I just collapsed. Tomorrow I get to find out. That is unless by some feat I finish it – in that case I guess I would be forced to find something more intense for next year.

Gear

I’ve been massaging my gear list for a week. In spreadsheet form and in person. With a run like this every ounce counts. Factoring in my steps per minute, the number of miles and the impact multiplier of downhill running, every oz on my back will add something like 10k lbs of force onto my muscles across the course of the run. In total I have ~15 lbs of gear I’m debating, but I’d like to run with less than 10 on my back.

Which is more worth the oz – a fresh pair of socks, 100 calories or sunscreen? Tough choices.

I learned from my run in with hypothermia at the Boston Marathon that it doesn’t take long for things to go bad when it gets cold, even if you’re running 6:30 miles. So I’m not keen to skimp on warm clothing – I’ve got more than I’ll need, which should hopefully be just enough.

Goals

1. Do not die
2. Complete the 93 mile Wonderland Trail on my own two feet
3. Keep my heart rate under 120 bpm average for the first 45 miles
4. Do not spike over 140 bpm at all for the first 45 miles
5. Finish in under 48 hours without sleeping
6. Finish in under 36 hours
7. Finish with a final 10 mile average over 110 bpm
8. Be doing something that looks like a run for >10% of the final ~10 miles
9. Finish in under 30 hours
10. Finish in under 24 hours – a single day