I posted a story about this race back in December, and thought I might lose interest in it, or in doing Rocky Raccoon, I might decide I needed to hang up my 100 mile shoes. Instead, I am pumped, stoked, excited to be leaving today to tackle my longest run ever--the Rouge/Orleans 126.2. It is a sickness--a mental disorder. The "need" to do bigger and better things--WHY? Maybe it's just for the bling. In this case, it had better be a honkin' big belt buckle. And really--how cool would it be to have a race shirt that said 126.2 ???

This course runs from Baton Rouge to New Orleans on Mardi Gras weekend. It runs along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River--never even has a road crossing, or so they say, except for the last little bit in New Orleans.

Much of the road is dirt and gravel roads, and looking at the short video, some of it is nice soft dirt trails.A major concern is the elevation profile. It seems really flat--which some people will love. But I actually like having a few rolling hills to mix things up. I imagine I will be praying for any kind of incline--even some steps to go up and down. Another concern is that I often have sleep problems while running long at night. I have literally fallen asleep on my feet, and in this race, I start at 8:00 Friday night and run all night, all day, and all night Saturday. Staying awake that second night will be super tough. I may simply stumble right into the jaws of an alligator.From reading about it, it seems to be a very crew-friendly race. The road that my crew drives is mostly right beside the river trail. Poor Dana will be as tired as I am. I am hoping she'll be able to catch a few winks along the way.

My friends Kathy, and Bill Ford, who finished Rocky with me, are going. (Of course Kathy is--she could not stand losing ground to me--and I'd be the same way.) 100 mile finisher Roman, and Caroline who came up a little short at Rocky due to a knee injury, arte teaming up as a 2-person relay team. They should both get around 100K each.

If you are a Facebook friend, keep an eye on my page for updates, as Dana will keep our friends informed on our progress. Me, I'm gonna treat it as a little 100 mile warmup, and then a marathon. Sounds easy enough, right?