Herding the Buffalo!

I do a fair amount of solo back-country running. It's not unusual for me to have a 30 or more mile day, blissfully traipsing through the woods all on my lonesome. I enjoy the freedom and solitude of running light and relying on my own skills and abilities to get me where I'm going.

That being said, when it comes to race day I usually switch gears and put a huge amount of trust in my crew to get me to the finish line as quickly as possible. I'm lucky enough to have a family that supports my running and racing and I can usually sucker one or more of them into cracking the whip. While this is decidedly a benefit, they may be getting a little too good at it. I used to be able to lollygag and talk my way into a good 15 minutes or more at any given aid station. These days I'm lucky if I can squeak in a measly five minutes!

Are you bleeding? Are you broken? Then get the

hell out of my aid station!

Take my dear, sweet wife for instance. She probably cost me at least a good hour of comfort and respite at the HURT 100 earlier this year by unrelentingly sticking to my race plan, despite my obvious distress. Yes, I told her to kick me out and get me moving with all urgency. But that was before I was 60 miles deep. That was before the reality of another 10 hours of running had eclipsed the pre-race fantasy of me gliding through the jungle like some magical gazelle-Tarahumara hybrid.

What does this have to do with herding buffalo? Well, the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 100 mile starts at high noon this Friday and, to be honest, my training has been comprised mostly of yard work and recovery calories for the last eight weeks. This isn't to say that I won't give it my all come race day but the results will be interesting to say the least.  The one thing I'm not worried about is that my "crew" will be there to crack the whip and herd the buffalo with incessant efficiency.

Bring it on!