I'm "just" doing the marathon- 26.2 miles. I would someday like to be able to do 50k there, but it's _very_ difficult to just complete the marathon- I'm talking 10+ hours, much of it spent at a death march. And that's not just me- it's practically everyone who doesn't just run a couple laps till it gets hot and then quit. It is the singlemost difficult thing I have ever done. I am not really sure what draws me back- maybe because the course and race director are such ultrarunning legends, definitely the challenge of being one 17 women to ever complete the marathon in 11 years. (Women have completed the marathon 22 times, with five women repeating once, only two women in consecutive years.) And I get to see some UR Florida running buddies that I never see now, now that road biking has taken over my life. Plus, it's a joy to see someone who can _really_ run and deal with the course conditions put on a record-setting race- it's so amazing. I just want to live through it. I am hoping to break the 10-hour time possibly this year, but since I have not been running at all, I don't know how realistic that is. I think I have gained a lot of conditioning from riding, though. And I've lost a lot of weight since last spring. _If_ I can complete the marathon this year, unless one of the other repeaters comes back, I will be the only woman to ever finish three times, and that will be consecutively. I pretty much have to do it! :-) (The total both-sexes finishing rate is 56%, or 123 of 220 starters, since 1995.)

Nanci