WSER - It's "just" a 100 Miler
Since I started running I was closely surrounded by very experienced and highly talented runners. Well except for the first 2 years of my running career when I trained and raced completely alone, but that’s a different story. My point is, chatting about ultra distance races, sub3h marathons and multi day running projects has always been common in my circle of running friends. Long before I even could imagine doing something like this myself.
There’s a good and a bad side to this. On the one hand it is very inspiring and motivating to set your own goals high. On the other hand it relativizes highly demanding running projects that might just not be in everyone’s range or desirability.
With that being said: I didn’t plan to do my first 100 miler any time soon. Not within the next 3-4 years. There’s 2 reasons for this. First, I’ve been very committed to some firm road racing goals that really mean a lot to me. Due to Covid, but also because of my spontaneous participation in this year’s CCC 100k race at UTMB, I’ve been postponing them for almost 3 years now. Second, I believe that a 100 mile mountain race should be well prepared. Especially if it’s a first-timer. My 6 month time frame until WSER should deliver a sufficient amount of training to at least survive on race day (and night). Yet still I know very well, that I won’t be even close to being an "experienced ultra runner" who knows what he is doing when toeing the line in Squaw Valley.
Nonetheless I took my decision. And it will be great.