T(RT) Minus 5, and Counting...

My Custom Race Bib, Designed by Chihping!

Well, it's four o'clock on Sunday. I'll start my TRT thru run in exactly five days. Chris, Rebecca, and I had a great day yesterday, scouting out various hidden trailheads and with the help of Tahoe City's Rory Fuerst, we found quite a few new spots to get the crew close to the trail.

As far as pacing and crewing goes, I could not ask for a better setup. I feel really grateful so many people have offered to come out and help. My crew members and pacers are:

• Chris and Rebecca (Crew)--Voted "Best Crew" (at least by me) for the last three years at the Tahoe Triple. They will drive to all the trailheads and keep me fed and watered.
  
• Grant and Marie (Crew)--They met me with some coffee in the middle of the night during TRT100 last year. Committed to stash water on some spots where you can hike in like Tunnel Creek and Armstrong Pass.
  
• Rory Fuerst (Pacer)--Ultrarunner from Tahoe City. Rory is going to pace me from Big Meadow to Echo Summit and from Tahoe City to Brockway Summit.
• Frank Plucker (Pacer)--A local ultrarunner that I carpool to many races with. Frank will pace me on the longest (32 miles) section on the trail from Echo Lakes to Barker Pass.
  
• Gretchen (Pacer)--Ultrarunner who just finished TRT100. She will (most likely) pace me between Brockway and Mount Rose, including the fun climb up to Relay Peak (10,338').
• Aaron Sorenson and Michael Popov (Pacers)--Two ultrarunners/fast packers who have run some very long distances. Michael has the unsupported JMT speed record and will crack the whip on me from Mount Rose to Spooner Summit.
  
• Troy (Pacer)--New to ultrarunning, but already running lots of miles, Troy will (most likely) pace me to the finish.
• Les Wright (Timer)--RD for the Lake Tahoe Marathon. Les kindly offered to be the official timer.
• And of course, my wife and kids (Support Team)--They offered lots of moral support. Vicky washed hundreds of shorts and T-shirts and cooked the best pre-run pasta dinners. She will be preparing a lot of PB&Js and whipped potatoes for during the run. Ad an added incentive, Sean is going to give me an iPod Shuffle if I break the speed record (45:58)!

I also received a lot of help from Dave Cotter (Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Races RD) and Mark Kimbrough (Tahoe Rim Trail association executive director). They gave me lots of useful pointers on hidden trail access points and so on.Live BlogCast Here!
Ultra for a Cure ultrarunner, Michael Kanning, has offered to update this blog next weekend for those of you that want to track my progress (so that's at least my parents!). Thanks, Michael!

I feel ready. I put in some good distance work (skipping a lot of the shorter stuff) this year, practiced power-walking, and I am very excited about the ultimate three-piece night-light setup I put together and tested at Cool last week.

Of course, you can't help but feel humble at the start of this run; driving through the majestic mountains of the Tahoe Rim Trail makes you realize this is going to be very hard. It reminds me of JFK's famous Space speech:

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

Some of you have asked if I am going to quit if I fall behind the record schedule. The answer is a resounding no--the record would, of course, be great, and so would a sub-48, but I am in it to finish the TRT in one go. regardless of the time.

So, I am just taking it easy running-wise this week and trying to get some good nights of sleep. Then, on Friday, as Tim Twietmeyer says "Go do it!" Send me those positive vibes--I'm going to need them!

Next Up: