Plan B!

Firstly a thank you to everyone for the commiserations (is that the right word?) on the cancellation of the AC100 entry and to those of you who made suggestions. To be honest after I read about it I was a bit numb and spent a day just letting it sink in. As an update on the fire, it appears to have been a case of arson, if caught the arsonist will also face homicide charges for the death of the two firefighters, more is being revealed as the days go by. As it stands 145,000 acres or about 226 sq miles have burnt making it the largest fire recorded in Los Angeles county. Right now it’s about 30% contained. I have heard that 75% of the AC100 course has burnt and it looks like the Mt Disappointment, a 50k/50m race course has also suffered, these are both is to be confirmed.

And so on to more cheerful news. Having scurried about the internet I came up with a couple of alternatives of which one was the Javelina Jundred in Arizona in October, this race was sold out but the RD opened up 50 places, this would have been a great alternative and I would have been able to run with another blogging bud, Nick but the timing sucked. There was Cactus Rose in Texas and Superior Sawtooth in Minnesota neither off which leapt of the page at me, and then through the power of Twitter, somebody (thanks Lori) suggested 100 in the Hood in Oregon. A bit of research, including an email to the RD, Olga whose, blog 'Run More Talk Less', I have read for the last year or two and who herself just complete the Hardrock 100, with some questions including; what weather can I expect? To which I got the answer:

The weather can be about anything. If we hit Indian summer, it is 80F during a day and 50 at night. It might get as low as 50 in daylight and 30 at night. It won't be hot. Most likely it won't snow, though one year it did in September. How is that for an answer? :)

So much for that heat training then, looks like I might need thermals! Anyway a couple of calls later and a chat with MsQ in the evening and, well, Oregon here I come. I just need to finalize all my travel arrangements and I’ll be off the weekend of the 26th, just one week later than AC100, to spend some quality time on the Pacific Crest Trail. If you're local stop by. You can check out some of the course photos here.

And so the adventure continues…