With the Sulphur Springs 100 Miler less than two weeks away, I’m now in taper mode. However, it seems like I started tapering last week, since my weekday runs were so much shorter than usual. I did make up for my low mileage by throwing down a sweet long run on the race course on Saturday.

I met up with Jim and Carlos early in the morning in Ancaster. Jim lives a few minutes away from the start/finish area and has run the 100-mile race numerous times. As I’d never run at Sulphur before, Jim led the way so that I could get familiar with the course. The race follows a 20 K lollipop route, so the 100-mile racers will do this eight times. While there are a few decent hills, the trails are fairly straightforward and a joy to run on.

After this first loop, I ran a second loop with Sharon, Katie, a visiting runner from Florida (I’m really bad with names) and John, who is one of the race co-directors for Sulphur. It was great to talk with John, as he provided some insight into the course route and identified the various locations for the aid stations. As they were going out for a second loop, I decided to stay with them so that I could get a third loop in.

I ran for seven hours on Saturday, so I’m feeling good about my fitness. After a nice two-week taper, I should be race ready on May 29. And by race, I mean running slower than usual to better my chances of finishing this crazy event. After all this training, I think I owe it to my wife to at least finish the thing. Even if I have to crawl for the final kilometres.

Total hours of running this week: 12:42 (10:53 trails; 1:49 road)

Total hours of running in 2010: 229:14