The biggest race of my running season will be tomorrow. It will be my first ultra marathon and hopefully a successful breaking of the current 50-mile joggling record of 8:52:07. It was set in 1989 by the most prolific world record setter in the world, Ashrita Furman.

I’m feeling pretty good about my chances. Thus far, I’ve joggled 1590 miles and logged single-session distances of 19, 20, 21, 26, 30, and 34 miles. That’s still well short of 50 miles, but if you can joggle 30+ miles, you pretty much can go a lot longer. My paces have been 9 min/mile or slower faster in all those runs except the marathon in which I did 9:07 min/mile. To break the record I’ve only got to do 10 min miles.

I haven’t decided whether I’m going to try and run the entire way or include walk breaks. We’ll just have to see how I feel. Joggling while walking is no problem, although it might be called “walggling” right?

Currently, I feel a bit lousy due to a cold picked up in Minnesota earlier in the week. My throat is sore and I’m experiencing an overall weakness. I’ll suck it up for the ultra though. I didn’t train this much, this hard to be defeated by a simple virus. What luck. The last time I was sick was back in December when we pondered the question, should you joggle while you’re sick? Then I have to go catch something the day before the Ultra. Darn.

To keep my mind occupied, I’ll be listening to podcasts. Specifically, The Skeptics Guide to the Universe, Point of Inquiry, The Science Show, and of course Ante Up! Hopefully, Scott’s whiny voice won’t disrupt the juggling pattern too much. I also wanted to mention that I’d be wearing an Ante Up! baseball cap which I purchased through their website. You’d think with advertising like this they’d have bucked up with a free hat, but no. Fortunately, they put on a great show even if they are a bit “frugal”. The hats are cool. You should get one or at least listen to the show. If you do, be sure to tell them the Average Joggler sent you. Maybe for the next race, they’ll come through with some free swag.

Of course, I’ll be joggling my 12 panel Dodeca Gballz. These things are working great. I’ll post a review soon but if you want to get the kind I’m using, get those joggling bags here.

And finally, here’s a shout out to other Chicago running bloggers doing the race including the Running Jayhawk and Suburban Ryan. Good luck! If you’re in the area, come down to the Chicago Lakefront path (around 31st street) and cheer us on. You can see a map of the 50-mile course here.

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Filed under: Chicago, Inspiration, Joggling, Joggling life, Races, Running life, Training Log