Trail race tomorrow

My "spring blues" have abated a bit. Weather is still on the cool side, but I'm getting excited about tomorrow. Weather is supposed to be great for the race.

Tomorrow should be the hardest run I've ever done. The "Sulphur Springs Trail run" offers a variety of distances from 10k to 100 miles. I'm running the 25k, which is a longish distance for me. I've run 20-23 km in training so I'm not worried about being able to run the distance but I've never RACED anything close to 25k. My longest distance up until now has been 10km.

In theory, my half-marathon pace should be under 5 min/km but I'm not ready for that AND this is a trail race. A lot of uphills and downhills. A lot of the downhills are pretty steep so I will have to apply the brakes. I don't have trail running shoes so traction, specially going down, is sometimes dicey.

I'll be running with my Karhu M2, which are fairly low to the ground. I used them on my "recon" run 2 weeks ago and they felt good. There are 7 aid stations on the main 20km loop so I've decided not to carry any liquids. I will take a gel before the race and carry a couple more just to see how it feels. Technically, I shouldn't need nutrition on a 25k race but I'm trying to get used to ingesting the gels. The aid stations will also have food, but I'd rather find something that works for me and stick with it. The only problem with the gels is how to carry them. I don't want to wear the fuel belt so I will have to either wear my triathlon shorts and stuff them in the little side pockets or pin them on my clothes somewhere.

I've reserved a rental car which I will pick up around 5pm. I'll get up around 4:45 am tomorrow and try to make it for the 100 and 50 miler start. I wouldn't mind seeing that. The 25k start is at 7:30 so I'll have plenty of time to pick up my packet and get nervous. Lacking any kind of reference, I'm aiming for a 2:30 time. On the "recon" run, I did 22.5km in 2:50 but I stopped MANY times to get my bearings on the map. I'm pretty sure I can do 2:30.

I ran 8k and swam for 30 min yesterday. Today I won't really do anything. I was debating going for a swim but I've decided not to do it. My legs are a bit stiff and I feel like I need the rest. I'm hydrating more than usual today to make sure I start the race on a full tank.

Wish me luck!