One More Week of Running

Next week is the 18th and final week of my training for the Blue Sky Marathon, an all-dirt and 90% singletrack in the foothills west of Fort Collins. The race is on Saturday. I'm aiming to finish in less than 5:30, a 12 minute-per-mile pace.

I've run more miles in training than I have for my previous marathon: over 500 by Saturday morning. I've run over 20 miles three times and a little less than 20 on the race course once. I've run more hills than I did in training for the Trail Quillan in March. Barring an accident, I'm going to finish. With luck, I may finish with a respectable time.

The weather forecast for this week is beautiful: sunny, dry, and mild. The latest forecast discussion from the Denver/Boulder NWS office has a change coming for Saturday: a high of about 60 and a chance of showers. I'd rather have dry and 70, but am relieved that the trails will be dry and snow gear won't be needed.

This is the one year anniversary of my first race in France: the Trail des Calades. The 4th edition of the race was run earlier today. I saw photos online and it looked like a great day in Saint-Jean-de-Cuculles.

Because of my participation in the Blue Sky Marathon, I won't be at the State of the Map in Boulder on Saturday like much of Mapbox and many the other mapping folks in Fort Collins. I will, however, get to see my own Mapbox team: they're coming here to work with Matt Perry and I all week. It's the first time we've come together as a team outside of DC or San Francisco, and my first chance to hang in person with Vincent Sarago! I heard some French on the A trail today while I was doing my last longish training run and did a double take, but it wasn't Vincent.