Rugged Individualist. Certified USA Triathlon Coach & NASM Personal Trainer, Men's Self Improvement Coach. President of Go Farther Sports. National Ranked Triathlete & 100 Mile Grand Slam Ultrarunner, only the fourth New Yorker to finish four of the oldest and most prestigious 100 mile ultramarathons in the U.S. in only 10 weeks.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

I'm signed up for Three Days at the Fair - Yes, the 72 hour race!

I am determining what to make of the 2014 season and came up with some dandies:

  1. Three Days at the Fair - all 72 hours of it.
  2. Burning River 100 - Aiming for Sub 20 hour pace.
  3. Woodstock 70.3 - Aiming for Sub 5 (or the equivalent of that on a hilly course)
  4. Massachusetts Triathlon Olympic Distance - Aiming for the Nationals in the Distance. 

Today, I'll talk about the Three Days at the Fair.




 I had my first taste of a "fixed timed" race last year in September at the Staten Island 6 Hour race. It was two weeks after the Wasatch 100 so I knew I had tired legs going into the event. But I saw so many people I know going into these races and I wanted to know how it goes in these races. So I entered into the 6 hour race, with the goal of "just running a marathon" to keep the pressure off.

I actually wound up doing around 35 miles, good for 10th place overall. I'm not sure what I felt, running all these circles, but it was altogether a much different race than the hilly 100s I did before.

I'm still not sure what to think of the experience!

So this Three Days at the Fair this is calling to me this year, and I feel, "maybe I'll try the 48 hour race". I didn't want to go for the full race as of yet because I am not experienced in running all these circles for 3 days straight. I figured 2 would be more palatable.

As time went on the thought of doing the entire 72 hours was starting to creep in on me.

Basically, the little devil on my shoulder started to convince me, "you'll get your experience during the race, you can bow out at any time, you know that. Besides, don't you want to do a 200 mile race in the near future also? This would be a good warmup for that. Bwahaha!"

So when it came time to plunk my money down for the race, I went for the whole enchilada!

God help me...

So logistics will come into play. I'll need a tent, some chairs, cushions, a whole grocery store load of things, and even some raw ingredients (there is a kitchen on premises that I can use to actually cook a meal). I "might" need a headlamp and some batteries, but the one mile course will probably be lit entirely, so I might not need it for the race. I will probably need it around my tent to find things though.

My "wild" goal for this race? 200 miles. Although I'll be willing to accept 150 miles for a more realistic goal.

So, to all those folks going to the race, I'll see you in May. Hopefully I'll be in a mood for conversation. :-)