Hurricane Irma = Cancelled trail races

I live in Florida so hurricanes are always a risk, but not usually a problem. Unfortunately for our beautiful trails, they became a problem this year. Hurricane Irma came barreling through our state and ripped our beautiful trails apart. We had a few get washed out, landslides that took out trails, pavement collapses and so much debris. Unfortunately, not only does that affect my weekly training runs, but several of my upcoming races have now been cancelled. That means I am left scattering to find a last minute race to register for, or doing more solo long runs. I love planning my long runs around races because it gives me the race atmosphere (I can practice having race adrenaline but not taking off too fast, and practice at running my own race while out running with other people). Also, they provide aid stations which just makes life easier to not have to stress on where to refill my water, pickup food ect.

Long story short, I had a few of my big races cancelled and I am going to have to improvise. Bronzeman 12 hour endurance run (which was an overnight timed run over sand dunes). And also Azalea 12 hour endurance run (very hilly pavement run, I ran this race last year and it kicked my butt so I was really looking forward to tackling it again). The beauty of Ultra Running is you have to learn to be adaptable when your conditions change, so I just consider this more training! I'm searching for a few more races to add to my next 2 months of training, but if I don't find anything I "love" I'll just have to take it solo!

On a brighter note my new training plan for food is working out well. I've been training and doing long runs without increasing my calories too much before, during or after my runs and by eating the "right" foods I have been able to manage my hunger levels and not overeating. I'm down 5 lbs, my goal was 20 by race day in January but I'd honestly be super happy with 10-12! So far by eating the right balance of carbs/protein before and after my runs I haven't needed to overdue it with calorie intake. I think that is where I ended up gaining weight last year during training. I'm hoping to go into this next race stronger and lighter than last time... it's getting close! 3 1/2 months!