Upcoming race Headlands 50k

"Walk the uphills, shuffle along the flats and run the downhills." This was the first bit of advice that I received when I did my first ultra marathon (Skyline 50k, Aug. 2006)

This profile was recently uploaded on the Headlands 50k website. All I can say is Where's the Flat part?? There weren't kidding when they said this was a hard course. 7,500 feet of climb! That's 15,000 feet of climbing and descent! Holy ____!

This isn't the tough course. Mt. Diablo 50k has 8,900 ft of gain. So I guess another way of looking at it, it's 1400 ft easier! Right?

Another positive: Rio del Lago 100 mile has 9,000 ft of gain. So it's like Diablo, only it's flatten out over 3 times as much distance (well, 3x plus 6 miles).

Yesterday, Johan and I hiked Diablo starting from Mitchell Canyon. A good 12 mile roundtrip up to the summit and back down. We'll see if that was too much to close to Headlands or if it's just fine. My legs feel fine, so that's a good sign!