'Alea iacia est' - The Die has been Cast

Young Will Rosling High-5 at Lap 7
(Autumn Leaves 50M)

Young Mr Rosling
Pacing me through Lap 7 of 8
(Autumn Leaves 50M)

'To finish is grand to run is bliss' --- That's how I felt at Autumn Leaves this year.

This was my qualifier to start the next round of ultra running distances.  With a sub-eleven hour qualifier I will try for Western States 100 mile run or equivalent.

On 11/10/11 @ 09:00AM: I sent in my WS100 raffle application for the 2013 100 mile run (Last year I bought a few tickets and didn't get selected).  Mike Rosling got selected and ran in 2011 to a great finish.

On 11/12/11 @ 12:03AM: I registered for the 2012 Western States 100 Mile Lottery.  I think I just missed being one of the first ten (10) to register, but only because the raffle winners were already listed.  I guess I was a little excited and I know I will be a anxiously awaiting the lottery results on December 10th.

On 11/12/11 @ 1420PM: There are already over 490 runners registered for the lottery to be held December 10th.  So it looks like even though my odds are going down for getting into Western States easily, my level of commitment to run a race of this distance has increased.

Rubicon River in N. Italy



Gimpy's Rubicon River



I woke up this morning with lottery and raffle applications submitted and was thinking,

"The die is cast" for the next chapter in my running adventures.  When I looked up this reference I discovered it came from a something Julius Caesar had said as he crossed the Rubicon River in Italy on his way to Pompey.

The phrase 'Alea iacia est', as I understand it from wikipedia means essentially 'The die has been cast', as Caesar exclaimed after crossing the River Rubicon in Northern Italy on his way to Pompey in 49BC.

It turns out there is also a Rubicon River on the middle fork of the America River very near where the Western States trail crossing occurs on the way to Auburn and the finish line.  It seems coincidental, but highly auspicious to me.

Note: I do not intend to realize the ultimate fate of Caesar, but that crossing of the Rubicon holds a significant turning point in my attempts to conquer the 100 mile ultrarunning barrier.

So here I go, I'm planning on tapering down the mileage for some fall and winter trail runs.  Then sometime in December depending on the WS100 results and hopefully with some coaching help from Mike and William (Veteran 100 milers) I lay out the training schedule for a 2012/2013 100 miler.

Autumn Leaves 50M Finish (9 hrs 47 min)

Let's Go Gimpy, time to run!!! 

Credits:  Thanks to Mike Rosling for the photo's at Autumn Leaves.