Confessions of a tired runner.

Race day is less than three weeks away. I've been training for the last thirteen weeks. I'm tired, mentally and physically. Between prepping for, eating for, showering from, doing laundry because of, and then actually doing the run, the hours spent on running could have amassed me a small fortune were it a part-time job. Many people aren't delusional or masochistic enough to embark on such an undertaking, running a 50 miler that is. If your are sane person, unlike myself, you might not know some of the dirty little secrets of running long distances. So here you go, a glance into my sweaty, smelly, blistered life.

1) My feet look dirty. All the time. I can scrub all I want, but that Myakka dirt is there to stay. And the calluses, oh the calluses.

2) My days off from work used to be reserved for catching up on cleaning and laundry. Now they are reserved for long runs. Were you to enter my home, it would be immediately apparent that I have relegated laundry and cleaning to the proverbial back burner.

3) Because I don't have much spare time for laundry, sometimes clothes come in the shower with me to get washed. Two birds. One stone. Genius.

4) Coffee and GU gels now make up their own group on my food pyramid. To that end, I spend more money on GU gels, Stingers Waffles, and Rocktane every week than I do on actually groceries. (bonus points if you know what all of that is)

5) When ya gotta go, ya gotta go. And when that's on the side of a busy road or on a trail in the middle of the woods, pray you remembered toilet paper.

6) Family gathering and social outings are often missed because of a run. I can neither confirm nor deny that Thanksgiving dinner started late because I had to get in "just one more mile". If, over the past 13 weeks, I have given you a lame-o excuse as to why I couldn't do something, I was probably actually running.

7) I'm going crazy. No, really. Any sanity I started with is all but gone. Spending so much time running start to play tricks with ones mind. I wouldn't be surprised if my next blog entry consists of "All running and no play makes Lara certifiably insane" typed over and over and over again.

8) Contrary to popular belief, training for an ultramarathon does not give you a "get out of jail free" card for diet and nutrition. I cannot eat whatever I want, nor can I eat as much as I want. If I eat crap, I feel like crap. And then my run sucks. And then I hate everyone. Truth be told l, I've gained a couple if pounds since training stared. How 'bout them apples?

9) I'm so tired of long, slow running right now. I will be happy when this race is over and I can ride my bike again! I'm looking forward to running a half-marathon in March, so I can start focusing on short, speedy races. (Did I just really type that???)

10) As much as I'm being a Negative Nancy about running right now, there is really only one question to ask: When's the 100 miler? :)