NYRR Knickerbocker 60K

I started running about 2 years ago. On a treadmill, very slowly (4.5 mph, for about 30 mins). So slow in fact, a friend criticized me for not trying harder (yes, some of my friends are very supportive). Over the following Minnesota Spring I improved both my distance and speed. I signed up for the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon as my first race and worked up to over 10 mile runs (up to 17). Aaaand then my knee gave out. I stopped running for more than two months before the race, finishing with a miserable 5:20 (What? Did you think I would eat that registration fee?)

Since then I have been itching for my next marathon. The birth pains of my Ph.D. thesis, a 4-month vacation for recovery (The process is similar to running. You should take it easy as many days as the pages in your thesis), starting a new job and moving to NYC made preparing for and running a distance race impossible last season.

Minneapolis is a big running town, but getting into the Twin Cities Marathon is still pretty straightforward. You sign up and you are in (If you feel like traveling, it is a great race). NYC Marathon, of course, is a whole different ballgame. I am working on my 9+1 and will run it in 2012. As for 2011, unless the Gods of NYRR lottery decide I am worthy, I don't have a marathon.

Enter Knickerbocker 60K. For those of you, who are not familiar; this is the only ultra-marathon organized by NYRR (confusingly it doesn't count towards 9 marathon qualifier races). In 2010, 214 brave souls finished this race, which consists of 9 laps around the middle loop of Central Park (72 St to 102 St) for a total distance of 37.2 miles (a full marathon followed by an 11 miler).

Training for an ultra-marathon is serious business. Doing it after a two month training break, like I did my marathon would be impossible. So, I will keep blogging, tweeting and logging miles from now to November hoping the fear of public humiliation will keep me running.

Freely available ultramarathon training programs are scarce and I would assume the personal-tailoring aspect of those would be more significant than a marathon training program. Therefore, I am going without a trainer or a program on this one (yes, I know, that quadruples the chance of failure). Since my plan is to finish the race (running, walking or crawling), rather than post a world record, I will start by working gradually up to a 30 mile long run. I am not a big fan of walk breaks, but it is obvious that some or all of these 30-milers and the race itself will include some walk breaks. Hopefully the run/walk ratio and my times will improve as the months go by.

As for a target. If I can go through the training without injury, I hope to finish under 7 hours. (slightly over 11min/mile pace)

If you are running this race or if you would like to help me by keeping the fear of humiliation alive, please comment. You can view my training from the dailymile widget on the right. I can also be followed on Twitter.