In just five short days, I’ll be running the Mamba 100-mile race in Memphis, TN, starting on Friday, November 8th, at 7:00 a.m. This will be my third 100-mile race of the season—a lot more than I’ve ever raced in a single year.
So far in 2023, I’ve completed four ultra-marathons: I ran the Mississippi 100 in Laurel, Mississippi, in the spring, the James River 50-mile in April, an 8-hour race called Miner’s Lady in August, and the Grindstone 100 just seven weeks ago.
At the start of 2023, I had only planned to run the Mississippi 100, and I intended it to be the race where I’d complete a 100-miler in under 24 hours—an ultra-running benchmark. Unfortunately, the weather spoiled that milestone, but during the race, I met the race director of the Mamba 100. After looking into it at home, I decided it would be a great race to try for a sub-24-hour finish.
The James River 50-mile was a race I entered to maintain my training because I had decided to sign up for the Mamba 100. It was here in Virginia, so it wasn’t far from home, and it turned out to be a great experience—I finished 9th overall and had a fantastic day.
The Miner’s Lady 8-hour race was a last-minute decision. I wanted a semi-hard training run, and it’s a local race that many people in my running group have done and enjoyed. I knew the trails from previous runs and thought it would be fun—and it was, aside from the yellow jacket stings!
Grindstone, known as one of the hardest 100-mile runs on the East Coast, was a huge accomplishment, and I’m glad I finished it. That race was never going to be a sub-24-hour event. Originally, the Mississippi 100 was my only planned race, and Grindstone was supposed to be my “A-race” of 2023, but I deferred my entry to this year because of an injury from my attempt at Old Dominion a few months prior. I had almost ruled out doing Grindstone but decided I could power-hike most of the race and still meet the generous 36-hour cutoff. My hope was that it would be a great training race for the Mamba—let’s see if that holds true.
We leave for Memphis in a few days, and all the pre-race jitters are setting in. Have I trained enough? Am I ready to tackle another 100-mile race? Can I sustain the pace needed to go sub-24? Will the weather cooperate? Is that pain in my right big toe going to be a problem after 30, 50, or 80 miles? I know I’ve put in the training and have the mental toughness to overcome whatever race day throws at me, but I still need a few things to go “right” in order to meet this goal. It’s a big one for me, and I’m ready. Wish me luck!
The Mamba has live GPS tracking. If you want to follow my progress, you can use the app, Trailrunner HQ. You can download it using the links below:
- Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/trailrunner-hq/id6698850380
- Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trailrunnerhq.app&pli=1
The app includes all the race details and live tracking for all participants. I’m bib #1037, but you can also search for me by name: Jim Cross. Watch this space for the race recap!