165 lbs. and 9.8% body fat (using electrical impedance). Sent new uBiome sample off this morning. Curious to see what the enema and all this mileage has done to my assay.

Approaching my longest event to date. This part of the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains is probably my favorite place in the world so attempting my first "real" ultra here has a nice symmetry to it. It is a tough race and I have concerns that I will DNF but I could train for another year and still not feel ready. A significant portion of competing at these distances is mental and I am running with confidence. So now is as good a time as any.

One thing that has been playing on my mind is how this blog has affected the choices I have been making. I suspect that the pressure of sharing has been a good thing, but every race and every result being something I publish on the internet is not healthy for me. In truth, I am a private person and there have been runs I have pushed too hard or days I have had to force myself to take selfies. It requires a level of self-scrutiny that makes me feel like a Kardashian.

Additionally, these long runs are pro-inflammatory. Even the men and women who win these things have gastrointestinal issues and uncontrolled inflammation. The optimal amount of running for humans is probably 20 to 30 miles a week at 8:30 to 10:00 minute miles. I do that in a weekend and I can feel the inflammation it causes. I did not do all this so I could replace one type of inflammation with another. So to figure out what I want to do and who I want to be I need some quiet.

This blog is almost a year old and when I get to that anniversary I am going to cease posting. I'll do a summary of the year including the results from the beta testers but that will be it (unless there is some safety issue/s that needs disseminating). It has occurred to me that my donor is a humble and private person who would never do a blog like this. Maybe my microbiome is messing with my motivation centers or my personality is shifting. Who knows?