Autumn Leaves 50 Miles - One week later

I guess I'm an ultra-marathoner. 

So it's been a week since I finished the Autumn Leaves 50 miles, and I'm going to run a trail half-marathon tomorrow. Needless to say my first 50 mile race went exceptionally well. Finished 3rd overall and 1st in my age group. YAY! Hard to say what the key to my success was. Maybe it was a combination of things: aggressive training (I've been holding a marathon base since April this year), great friends who support me - even during the race(s), and my addictive nature to runing.

I think now I'm ok with saying "yes, I am an ultra-marathoner." It actually started last December with the my first 50k the Frozen Trail Runfest at Mount Pisgah. This year I've done two 50k's and a 50 miler. Of course after getting a 7:00.9 finish for a 50 mile race, the questions starting rolling in if I'm putting my hat in the ring for Western States 100. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to do that just yet.  I finally qualified for Boston, and I'll be doing that this year, so the timing doesn't seem like it'll work out. The conundrum is if I start putting my hat in now, I'll be able to get into WS sooner. But what if I get in the first time around and have to bail out? I don't really want to do that, so the solution is I'll probably end up running the new course on Pine to Palm. We'll see. 

In the meantime, I've got to get ready for tomorrow. Silver-Falls Half Marahon and then on to the last 50k of the year, the one that started it all for me. The Frozen Trail Ultra at Mout Pisgah in Eugene December 17th. 

I am an ultra-marathoner

Aaron Porter