Big Cedar 100 is a new 100 miler in the DFW area and it is only about a 30 minute drive from my house. That close proximity will eliminate a number of logistical challenges that are presented by Cactus Rose 100 and allow me focus all my energies on finishing. The Big Cedar 100 will start on a Friday morning, another difference that I find appealing. I'll be joined again by Doom (Dude, what happened to your blog!?) and also have a pretty solid group of crew, pacers, and family lined up to be on hand. I'm really looking forward to this.
This will also allow me to run Rockledge Rumble again this year after sitting out last years run. At two weeks out, I'll use this as a last long run for Big Cedar. I've been pleased with my training so far this summer. There was a two week stretch around vacation that saw very little running when a wild string of events lined up and left little time for running. However, I typically always take a break around mid-summer and, as a result, I'm feeling really fresh heading into the next 10 weeks of running.
The extended rest period also lined up nicely with a trip to Colorado. I was able to come off that rest period and really hammer things for a couple of weeks before dialing it back heading towards Colorado. Unlike last year, I actually have an entire day free and hope to take advantage of that by hitting the trails early in the day and not playing the "oh, where will the monsoon storms be today?" game. I'm aiming for 5 14ers in 24 hours and that will give me about 22,000' of vert over about 50 miles. Man I love the mountains!
Brewing Update:
I've been slow but steady on the brewing front but really need to start bottling some of this stuff now that my stock of bottled brew is getting dangerously low. I've brewed a red farmhouse ale with my house yeast blend, 15 gallons of wild ale using a spontaneous fermentation starter, and a simple saison with grapefruit using my house saison blend. The saison and farmhouse are ready for bottling and should be prime for drinking come football season. Some random pictures of those brews:
