Too many 100s, 24s. I'll focus on 50s next year.

Ultrarunning is great. 100s and 24s are especially great - you all know you're on a journey, an adventure, and people really bond in amazing ways, from the fastest to the slowest people. It's such a wonderful awesome journey.

Except when it's not.

exhausted in my first 24 hour race (hinson lake 2012)

I love the laughter, the jokes, the cupcakes, the fun.

I hate the deprivation of tea for a week. (I'm a HUGE tea drinker, so this is actually quite a big deal.) I hate the sleeping early every night for a week, then running without sleep and feeling exhausted all night, and then barely able to sleep after because I'm in so much pain, and then being wrecked the rest of the week. I'm sick of missing super fun parties, events, relaxing time because I'm always racing.

My mom said, "You are always destroyed after 100 milers; why do you keep doing them?" (She also said, "You are always so miserable after marathons; why do you keep doing them?"

So next year, I'm dialing it down.

The plan is to focus on 50 milers. Run fun races. Hang out with my friends more. Study Spanish. Write. Play with the kitties. Have fun parties, and go to fun parties. Kiss my love. Dance. Read. Live my life, don't stress out.

I'll do a select few longer races - Vermont 100 has a special place in my heart, and there's NOTHING like TGNY 100, and of course I'll do Hinson 24. But I already decided to do 50 miles at Umstead instead of 100. Instead of running through the middle of the night, finishing at an ungodly hour, showing up at my sister's exhausted and depleted, eating half her fridge, then spending time with her family messed up. Instead, I'll run 50 miles, go back to her house, shower, eat, hang out...and wake up in the morning in the mood for an easy run. Much more fun, right?