That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama. And that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. — Forrest Gump

So on Saturday, for no particular reason, I’m going to run a little 5k loop affectionately known as the Black Mountain Monster.  Ok, it’s not a monster because it’s a 5k loop, it’s a monster because it’s a 24 hour run.  And when I finish that 1st 5k loop, I think I might just run another.  And another…

This will be the 3rd year I’ve run this race, as it truly is AWESOME!  🙂  Great Atmosphere, great race directors and volunteers, great course, etc.  In past year’s I’ve had preview posts, so here goes again…

2012 lead-up included the Uwharrie 40 miler in February, and then not a whole lot of running after that.  I signed up for BMM24 sort of at the last minute, just to see what I could do.  And I ran 99 miles before calling it a day, with maybe 90 minutes left on the clock…

2013 lead-up includes Uhwarrie 40 miler in February, Umstead trail Marathon in March, and the North Face 50 miler NY in May.  I.e. much better lead-in than 2012, but I was training for Leadville.  My goal at BMM was to have one heck of a training run for PB, and not go too far or too hard so as to jeopardize my Leadville training.  I ran 87 miles and stopped with nearly 5 hours on the clock, when I knew I was no longer helping my Pb cause.

2014 I ran the Tobacco Road Marathon in March, and that was about it.  No ultra runs (training or races) since Leadville last August!  I’m treating this year’s BMM as the start of my ultra training, as I have the World Championship Rogaine’s in August and Hinson Lake 24 in September.   But I’m hopeful that I have a pretty solid outing, even with the lack of miles the past 8 months, and can perhaps push Sho a bit in his attempt at a new CR.   Time will tell…