Cool !!!  What part of the Pinhoti trail did you do?  I had the pleasure of doing the 100 miler last November.  Really enjoyed it, but it took a long time for my ankles to recover.  As in... I'm just now getting fully back to normal.  Those holes, roots and rocks hiding under the fallen leaves did me in I think.  LOL.

Today I did the section from interstate 20 to highway 24 as an out and back, possibly the least rocky and technical section I have seen so far. The never ending up and down still wore me out though.

Yeah, there are definitely some completely flat sections on the pinhoti that I walk just due to the leaf covered rocks.

I did the Cheaha 50k... maybe someday I'll feel ready for 100... if one ever feels ready for a 100 lol.

Day One of "If I can run the perimeter [semicertified 10.2 miles) in less than 2:15 by March 31 (2013), then I will enter [???]" started off grandly.
Chain saw, weed wacker, loppers, shears, stacking wood, hauling wood...not too sure about this CrossFit stuff.

QOTD: Have you ever gone into a race where you weren't sure about your ability to finish and have you been more often pleasantly surprised or had your fears realized?

I don't recall a, marathon or beyond, starting line without fears and trepidation. The pleasant surprises have outnumbered the bad. The belief in one kind of training, but not the other on a day when "the other" was to be implemented was simply a day of slowly falling apart and a finish line that never seemed any closer. The first marathon that was internally comfortable was also the introduction to the nature running thingie or whatever "rgot" might mean. The starting line with three days of flu immediately preceding turned into a mileage PR for a muddy 6-hour run.

The DNFs have each been totally unexpected--everything going so well until someone said, "Are you okay?" I said, "No." The first time there was only four miles left in a fifty-mile trail---weird, there have been two DNFs in fifty-mile events, both at about 46 miles down, 50k with 40k done.

On the other hand... on that first venture beyond fifty miles, the surprise (pleasant) of taking the lead at about 97 k... which, for me, lead to a whole new level of fears to consider. I'm sure some are comfortable in the lead. I was absolutely terrified. I knew Ike or Lary would come back to life. I was sure I would turn the wrong way. I pointed behind me and asked someone on the side of the road, "How close is he?" A total stranger lied and said, "There's no one there. You've got it." Why did he do that to me. I was too scared to turn enough to look. I asked three more people. Same fairy tale... why why why? I knew he was there. I could feel it. He was just waiting. Finally I saw Kathy. She pointed left and said, "One block." "Where's Lary?" I practically screamed and pointed over my shoulder. She just smiled and said, "There's no one there. It's done."

"Oh," I thought to myself and turned into a blob of delirium coated jello that was trying to run up that last block to end a long night.