Adventures in Onionism

OK, fine! I'll finally finish this race report.   I ran the Orcas Island 100 at the end of February. In the months since, I've been through a big snowstorm in Reno, been to Yucca Valley, and DC twice. Most importantly, I'm not sore or injured. I struggled through a two-mile run the day before, day after, and two days after the race, and got back up to 70 miles for the weeks since. I'd call the race a success. I signed up for it because I wanted an early season race with a lot of climbing. Orcas provided. There aren't many races in winter due to weather, but Orcas, on one of the San Juan islands in Washington, manages (if sometimes barely). The race is four times around the same 25-mile loop, each with four aid stations and four big climbs, for a total of 26,500 feet of climbing. The course is shaped like a neck pillow with a lobster claw attached to it. If that doesn't make any sense to you, that's how it felt running it. The trail is almost always under tre...

To answer my own question from last time, I signed for UTMB. And UTMR. Yes, they're only six days apart. It'll be fun. Right now I'm more anxious about Orcas 100, which I'm running this weekend. Should I bring my newer small pack or my larger worn out old pack?  Why haven't I bought a replacement larger pack yet? Because nobody makes anything to carry hard-sided bottles anymore and I like hard-sided bottles because they're larger and insulated. Why do I get nervous before races lately, despite having run more than 100 ultras? I don't know. Orcas, Paiute Meadows 50K, Scout Mountain, TRT, UTMB, UTMR I've been training quite consistently, if not especially hard. I've run 475 miles so far this year, a minimum of two every day, and more than 60 every week, except for last week when I was tapering and ran 45 or so. I've had almost no alcohol this month, and I've been fairly good (but not great) about mixing in hamstring exercises. My hamstring felt...