you signed up for what!?!?

I have officially taken the plunge and signed up for my first ultra marathon! I've been thinking about it for a long time. I was having a hard time deciding whether I wanted to go for another St. George marathon and commit to training for another Boston Marathon qualifying time or try something new. Thinking about how hard I worked last summer only to be disappointed with my time last fall, I decided to throw caution to the wind and do something different. I'm actually looking forward to it. I decided on the Las Vegas Backcountry 50k. It looks like a good first timers ultra. It will be October 29th so I have plenty of time to prepare. And the terrain will be similar to what I am already used to running on. Unfortunately, they do not give out the map ahead of time, so it will be somewhat of a guess as to elevation totals. I did email the race director and she said there was nothing too "hilly", whatever that means.

I've been reading and listening to podcasts about ultras and I am fascinated by the idea of pushing your body beyond what you thought was possible. I found a training plan in the book Running Your First Ultra and the mileage isn't really that much different from a marathon training plan. There will be less "workouts" and more trail running, which I am excited about. I have already started the plan and so far so good. I'll let you know how it goes.