Plan A

Administrative note: This week's posts will be pretty quick ones, as I won't be spending a lot of time in front of the computer. My wife had a pre-operative visit and lab tests today (Monday), with surgery scheduled for Wednesday. Thanks again to everyone who has sent well-wishes our way. Now on to today's post...

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"Let me know what's on your mind, let me know what I'm gonna find...
Lord give me a sign-

Show me what I've got to do, to bring me closer to you.
'Cuz I'm gonna go through whatever you want me to,
Just let me know what to do ... Lord give me a sign."

- DMX, "Lord Give Me a Sign"

Shortly after my triathlon in September, I hinted that I wasn't quite sure what my race schedule would look like in 2007, but that I had two pretty cool options.

Last week, I received a letter in the mail regarding Plan A:

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Dear Donald:

Your 2007 Western States Endurance Run entry form has been received and you have been entered in the lottery. Lottery date is December 2nd, with results posted to the WS website by 2 PM Pacific time. Thank you and good luck in the lottery.

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This race has been on my radar for several years, but for one reason or another I've never had enough gumption to actually throw my name in the hat. I might still have a long time to wait, though. The odds of getting picked for the 2007 race are roughly 50/50, so I'm not exactly making travel plans yet. But even if I don't get in this year, I'll just keep entering future races until I'm accepted (the race has a two-time loser policy for automatic entry on your 3rd attempt).

I'm not terribly anxious about this year's lottery result, though - because my backup plan is pretty awesome as well. However, Plan B is significantly different than a 100-mile ultra, and would completely alter my training and race schedule. For now, the most frustrating thing about waiting until December 2nd is just the uncertainty of not knowing what kind of mindset to have as I go about my workout routines.

Typically, once I commit to doing a race, I start visualizing myself doing that event nearly every day, with every training session. For the past several weeks this vision has been quite opaque - and perhaps as a direct consequence, my training has seemed unusually listless and uninspired. I'm not working out nearly as often as I'd like to be, and I don't have any big events on the horizon to help motivate me through difficult workouts (which I've essentially avoided for six weeks).

But in less than one month, that will all change. I'll know for sure which goal I'll be working towards, and my focus will become clear. Then all that's left to do will be some serious training.

The funny thing is, that's the part I'm looking forward to the most.