Thirteen Hours?!

    It has been a long, rough week, at the end of a long, tiring month. My training has flagged a little, since I have been working long hours and extra days through the month of December. Thankfully today was the finale. It has not helped that I have not been sleeping well, waking at 2 or 3 am, and lying awake, staring into the darkness for an hour or two before finally drifting back into an uneasy doze. This has made me opt for an extra hour of sleep in the mornings instead of a morning workout. But that will change, now that my work schedule is returning to normal.
    As I sit here this evening, exhausted, drained, and a tad delirious, I have been staring at the website for The Epic 250K, in Bend (Oregon, for you non-locals). This is to be my "A Race" for 2014. With a 5K swim, 223K bike, 22K run. Grand Total = 155.34 miles under my own power. Holymotherofthegods whatthehellamIthinking?!! That is 15 miles longer than an Ironman. The advantage for me is that the swim and bike legs are longer, the run is shorter. It is no secret that the run is my weak leg. But damn, a 3.1 mile swim, 138.5 mile bike, and a 13.7 mile run. Damn. At my current pacing, my times would come out something like this: Swim, 1.5 hours; Bike 9 hours; Run 2.5 hours. Total time 13 hours. LeaveMeInTheDitchToDie... Thirteen hours. THIRTEEN HOURS?! That boggles the mind. Why would anyone with a hint of sanity want to pay money to put themselves through such brutality? Yet here I sit, debating with myself whether or not I should get signed up now, before the entry fee rises on January 1st. I have decided to sleep on it. It has been a tough few days and Brain and Body are beat. I do have a few brain cells that are still functioning well enough that I know better than to make such a leap when I am this tired. The thought has me fired up and trembling with excitement though (or am I palsied with lack of sleep? I dunno.).
    The training regime would be brutal, but then, I like it rough. I would have to put in long, hard hours prepping my body for such an endeavor. The furthest I have swam is about 2.25 miles, so the swim leg does not worry me too much. I just have to use my I-can-do-this-all-day pace, and not let myself get drawn into the excitement of wanting to swim too hard and fast. The furthest I have ridden this last year was 58 miles, less than half of what I need to be able to do. But I love cycling, and am willing to risk the saddle sores. I may have lost my cycling buddy though, time will tell. The furthest I have run is 13 miles, a half marathon. I have done it several times, though not without difficulty. Granted, two of my half marathons were trail runs, and they are a bit tougher on the body than your average road run. And I can vouch for the fact that running a half marathon after a long bike ride is not an easy feat.
    But I have faith in myself, faith in Brain, Body, and Spirit. I know I have the workout ethics to train hard. But can I train hard enough? Those are some seriously long distances. I know I can have the swim in the bag in short order. Cycling is just a matter of increasing time and intensity a little bit at a time. As for the running> Now that I have to really put my mind to it, mind and body. I know I can do this. I have faith. Now I just need to get the money.