Ready or not...

This weekend represents my first entry into the world of ultrarunning.
I'm signed up for the Blues Cruise 50k.
50k.
That's 31 miles... significantly more running than I've ever done. And, perhaps, significantly more running than I ever should have planned on doing. I might be up to this; I probably am ready; but I'm really not sure.

My running mileage has been in the 50s lately, I think – maybe high 40s. I don't usually add it up. My sense is that's a little light for a 50k, but maybe not excessively so. The biking will help. I have two 20+ runs, one the 26.8 mile Trail Dawgs Quasi-marathon. And yeah, that one didn't go so well. At least the fourth hour didn't.
I do have hopes that the last miles of the Blues Cruise will go better than the last miles of the Quasi-Marathon. That one I didn't taper for, didn't eat right for, basically tried to train through. I also ran it in running shoes that had long since lost any padding. For Blues Cruise, I'm tapering (probably not enough, but I am tapering), going a few days without booze, and trying to generally get ready for it. I also have my new, new trail running shoes – although there, too, I'm not without concerns. They'll only have around 40 miles on them, if that; the longest run was 19 miles, a run that was supposed to be 22 but which I cut short. I blame the socks I was wearing that day, but still – it'd be nice to know more about how I like the shoes. But then, I ran in my old Cascadias today, and they're done.

At least it's rained. The ground shouldn't be that hard.

I'm also planning on not going out that hard. It's tough, though – with such a long race, even going fast, you'll be out there way longer than is necessary. Go out to slow, you're looking at more than 5 hours running. That, I may not be up for.