The Awesome Mix of Anticipation and Dread

One week-ish and counting until my next 50km race. This one will be my first 50km race in another province, the small and relatively flat province of Prince Edward Island. Yes, yes, I know it has hills, but no one takes them seriously. In fact, most people don't know that PEI has a ski hill! But, I've done my homework (aka reading previous racer's blogs and race reports) and then immediately emailed the Race Director for a copy of the course elevation profile to confirm what I'd read. There WILL be hills, and lots of them. The big bonus for me though is the lack of any flat-face, rope-assisted rock climbing this time around (unlike the last 50k - right Josh? :-). I'm feeling confident about my food (which actually is really surprising given my lack of serious distance long runs), and I'm taking my Salomon hydration pack with me which can hold up to 2 liters plus two extra 500ml bottles-I can't say enough how much I love my pack! My biggest issue right now is holding myself back from doing too much cross training. I keep reminding myself that there's nothing I can do right now that will make a difference in a week so I'm better off not pushing myself to exhaustion prior to the race. But it's SOOO tempting. My runs haven't improved a lot over the past couple of weeks but my speed has improved by about a minute per mile, which has been nice to see. I think my legs needed this time to do these daily, hilly, shorter (2-5 miles) runs and although they don't help my endurance I know they will help with the hill climbing to come. I have managed a couple of 10 milers (nothing close to the distance I should be running for a long run) but they've been at least some form of long distance running. The muscle pain during the second lap of the course is the part that I'm dreading as a result of my lack of long distance-specific training. But I'll tackle that monster like I usually do, and solider on. Right now I'm keeping my mind busy with logistical details; who is taking care of our dog (THANKS MOM!!), where we'll camp, how far away the camp site is to the race site, stocking up on food and Powerade, debating which shirt to wear, what clothes to put in my drop bag, if I should ask for my birthday present early and break in a new pair of shoes before the race..you know..the usual stuff. It's keeping me from getting the taper-crazies, at least for now. Well I hope to see some familiar faces out there next week; maybe Jodi or Karine will run this one (Karine just finished a 100 miler last week so I doubt it, she's earned her rest!), Micheal (who was the first Canadian to run non-stop across PEI two years ago), or maybe my snot-rocket guru Gordon, or some folks from the Halifax Trail club, we will see. So far the 50km group has 18 runners registered, more than the other distances offered that day-Go Ultra Runners-they know where the fun is at! But no matter what distance you do this week or the next just get out there and have fun.