How many miles can you run in 6 hours? Well, I’m about to find out on Saturday.

This weekend, I had 34 miles on the schedule as part of my training plan for the 52.4 SF Marathon “Worth The Hurt Challenge.” I’ve been training with my friend Chris who has run the last two 50-mile races with me and asked him if he wanted to do it as part of a race. There is a 6-hour race happening close by on Saturday and the format is simple: run a 3-mile loop on trails as many times as you can in a 6-hour time frame.

Sure it’s the same 3.4-mile loop over and over, but the benefit is that it’s a supported course on trails and we don’t have to think about the map. San Francisco is a small city, so figuring out a 34-mile route with stop lights, bathroom breaks and places to re-fuel can be cumbersome. This way we can just show up, run, and run, then run some more and get a medal and hoodie and enjoy a BBQ afterwards. Sounds good, right?

 

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It’s called Dirty Dozen & Half Dozen (5k, 10k, 6-hr, 12-hr options) and put on by Brazen. As a Bay Area runner, I’m embarrassed to say that this is my FIRST Brazen race, but am excited that it is my FIRST 6-hour race. The timed races have always interested me. I want to do a 12-hour race someday, but this will be my first test.

Confidence

As I wrote earlier, I’m still battling some self-confidence issues. I had been going for speed earlier in the year and I took a hit to my self-confidence by missing my goal several times. I’ve been putting in some high milage the past few weeks and am feeling stronger. I’ve been building my confidence back up over the last six weeks and this will be a great way to check-in with my progress.

The good thing about doing longer distances is that you can slow down a little bit and focus on staying at a consistent and comfortable pace, all things considered. If I keep a 10-minute pace over the 6-hours, it would put me at 36 miles. That would be amazing. But that would also be non-stop running and my goal is 30-34 miles. To me, that would be a win and if I can come out of it feeling strong, then it would be a great confidence-builder for my 52.4 race at the end of the month.

I’m just over 90% to my fundraising goal for the race.
The BIG FINALE is FRIDAY.

RnR Chicago

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I have one more race before the 52.4 Challenge, it’s the Rock n Roll Chicago weekend (5K Sat., and Half Sun.) I’ll be doing something “special” that weekend for a friend and will blog about it next week, but if you want to join me and all the runners, here is a coupon code:

CHICAGO – $10 off code: HITTHEPAVEMENT
Register here.

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Have you ever done a timed race?
How many miles do you think I’ll run?