to run, gimp or suck at the tahoe rim trail

"WE'RE STILL A GO!" read the headline in bold red caps on the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs home page. With the Northern California wildfires causing an unprecedented cancellation of the Western States 100 this year, I was more than interested to see if the TRT was going to be affected. According to the race director, there are no active fires in the Lake Tahoe area. Thank goodness. Now all I have to worry about is the run.

Well, except for this minor thing. Last week while on a routine 10-mile training run, I felt a strain on my left calf with about 3 miles still to go. I finished my run, but the soreness (sort of a dull pain) has lingered on and has now radiated to the outside of my calf. I've laid off running the last week and have been massaging my calf and soaking it in the hot tub in my feeble attempt to rehab it before the run.

The TRT starts at an elevation of around 7000 feet and goes up to 9000 feet at its highest – oxygen-deprived conditions for this landlubber. I have a bit of a concern with the altitude. Sometimes I'm fine, but sometimes I get headaches and just plain suck wind. I'm writing this post from my hotel room in Carson City (just a stone's throw away from the Nevada State Capitol and Nevada State Legislative Building), and even though it's only about 5000 feet here, I do feel a bit lightheaded.

Two more days to go and I'm hoping my leg will be much better and my lungs will be acclimated by the time I toe the starting line.

Check out this excerpt from a documentary about the 2007 run.