Back to AR 50!

Man, I have just come out of one of my rocks from the past few months, but am finally back out with my turtle head poked out and ready to climb out and run a couple of races. I had a block of exams the past 5 weeks which took most of my energy, and am glad they ae over. It will be an awesome month with AR 50 this weekend and Miwok exactly four weeks later, and I am psyched for the time proximity of these running classics. I havent raced since January 8th, so 3 months out is a long time to not get a good thrashing at the hands/feet of the trails.
I am happy to run AR 50 again. Two years ago I didnt train on pavement and had a bad race in running a 6:12. This year may be different as I have better footwear and 80% of my miles have been paved the past 6 weeks. Should be able to better this time easily.
Even though my training has been relatively low the past three months, I have focused on quality half marathon workouts that leave me tired enough to sit alot and focus on school and sleep well, yet not enough realistically to be considered real ultra training. The longest I have run is 2 hours at one time, yet I have been consistent and healthy, which makes up for the paucity of miles. I feel going into two hard races being slightly undertrained is unconventional, yet I know I have the recovery reserves in the tank to handle it and come out no worse for wear. I am supposed to run WS 100 in June, which is still uncertain, as I will need to train a few long runs in late May and first week of JUne; PA school and my family rank higher on the list so we will see. I have eked out good races before, but I aint no spring chicken and the clock ticks. WS historically isn't my bag, but given the the 160% of average Sierra snowpack underfoot, I reckon this summer is due for a heavy snowfall on the head as well come race morning! I'd be one happy runner that day, as my Scotch/Canadian/Russian/Swedish cold blood boils over 80 degrees F.
See you in Sacramento Saturday AM. Likely candidates to be beating the American River Trail with me past Folson prison and beyond include Nick Clark, Scott Jaime, Ryan Burch, Erik Skaden, Jason Louthit, and Ian Sharman. Tell me if there is anyone else I missed. I heard Tony K is hurt and Chikara Omine as well; I'd looked forward to racing these guys. Surprisingly, I still havent raced Tony after all these years. Maybe WS..