First Post!

Great! I found my blogger account! Woot. I'm trying to kill time before my epic Round the Island run at 5 AM. I only have to kill time until 4AM when I will gear up and head to Jordan's Restaurant for a hearty breakfast before my 70 mile run today. 70 mile run. 70. mile. run. I have to say that a few times to really understand what it means. Ha. I'd like to use this blog to post online articles about ultrarunners I've interviewed and other information I'm finding out about while studying ultrarunning and speed hiking and endurance sports in general this Spring. It's my senior project! Can you imagine that, a senior project on endurance sports coming from me, the acting kid? the former SHY kid? the slowest varsity member in high school cross country? it all seems like a dream... : ) Anyway, I've interviewed around 18 ultramarathoners and speed hikers after 3 weeks. They've told me AMAZING stories about the limits of the human body, about the joys and tribulations of endurace events. Like the Hardrock 100, an insane ultramarathon through the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado. 66000 feet of elevation change, average elevation of over 11, 000 feet...That's over 2 miles high. Now to many people, that sounds as appealing as a sea urchin sandwich, but to me, my blood starts to pump, my head gets dizzy from imagining the lack of oxygen, and my heart, or my spirit, or whatever that courageous voice is inside me, screams, "GO FOR IT!" Push the limit of your body, your mind, your motivation and will power! In my mind, whatever doesn't kill me...will surely hurt a lot, and will be well worth my time. Whatever does kill me...well, I just hope its during a run. Not that I plan on dying anytime soon. It's just good to have a broad perspective about life in general, because you never know when ya gonna go. Can you tell I'm nervous about this ultra? : ) So I've raised hundreds of dollars for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, in honor of my cousin Christopher, who has CF. I started a donation page less than a week ago, and thought of this idea of running around MDI around 2 weeks ago. Phew, everythings moving very fast these days. Heres the link to my donation page where you can contribute: http://www.cff.org/GreatStrides/SteveHumphreys Alright, gonna gear up. Wish me luck. Peace.