Pre-Race Goals

Headed into a 50 mile race and trying to set a specific goal for myself is a challenge.  There are so many uncontrollable variables, such as the weather, that can change my finish time drastically.  After much thought, I have decided to make my goal for this race to finish all 50 miles regardless of the time.  There is a lot of pressure from my friends and fans headed into a race of this magnitude and not finishing would be a huge disappointment. Part of the reason for this decision for not setting a time frame for my race lies in the shear distance of this race.  Running for 50 miles will take nearly half of a day and I’m afraid that starting out too fast to meet a time deadline could affect not only my finish time, but more importantly finishing at all. The most important part of this race will be the first 10 miles.  If I can be disciplined enough to just run my pace and not push too hard in the first couple legs, I will have a much greater chance of finishing strongly.  Even if I’m feeling good, running at a pace of even 30 seconds faster per mile than my intended pace could prevent me from having the endurance during the final legs of the race to finish. I’m ready.  I’ve been training for around four months now and I’m starting to get excited to get back out on the trail.  Getting out in the middle of a woods and running though the hills is an experience like no other and I want to make the most of it.  Follow along as I run out near Madison and follow a live feed from my twitter account starting around 5:00 am on the morning of September 15^th –I will be having my friend tweet from @TeamBurdick. Jack Burdick is majoring in Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and along with hisweightlifting workouts, he competes in marathons and ultra-marathons (50 mile races) and is looking to earn a Cross-Fit title or to be recognized with The World’s Fittest Man title which is reserved for an ultra endurance power athlete.