Mental Preparation

It's getting close, the anxiety is building for the Rocky Raccoon 100 miler this weekend.

This will be my 4th attempt at a hundred miler and hopefully if things go well it will be my 3rd finish. This course is basically flat and very,very runnable. It's a course that, if you manage your race well, you can run a sub24. Sub-24 will be great, sub 20 is my goal.

A lot of things go through my mind the week leading up to a race. Mostly, doubt.

Have I prepared enough and will I have the proper mental disposition that I need on race day to make sure I get across the finish line.

Maybe there are some, but when you step up to the starting line of a 100 mile race there are no guarantees that you will finish. A 50 miler or a 100K yea probably, but not a 100. Maybe one day, but I am not there yet.

For my 1st 100 I read Viktor Frankel's Man's Search for Meaning. I am not sure if if helped, but I think it did. It helped me to put things into perspective.

Last night as I was worrying and feeling sorry for myself, I looked around for inspiration. I received some from a few friends on Facebook and as I laid down to go to sleep, a book was staring me in the face. Endurace: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. I picked it up. I was reading Dean Karnazes' blog a few months back and he mentioned the book so during the holidays when I went on a book shopping spree ($450.00) I bought it. It's been sitting there for a while along with a few others.

I read about 75 pages and did not get to sleep until about 0000 hours, but so far it has been worth it. Maybe this book will help to put things into perspective for me also.

The mental peparation part of the 100 is the hardest. When you are putting your drop bags together, your food plan, your hydration plan, your electrolyte plan, and your race strategy there are some basic rules and its pretty easy to do.

There are no real rules for the mental preparation. There is no book on, "how to remove self-doubt" or "how to be confident" etc....

Well, maybe there is but they mean nothing unless you believe it, and internalize it.

I want to be inspired to greatness. To read tale of heroic, true adventure with much adversity can get me there. These guys were real mean, facing insurmountable odds.

I am just a regular guy, reaching up, trying to touch the hand of greatness.

One 100 miler at a time.