So I get an email from USAT today.

"Six weeks. Six weeks? Yep, it's the final six weeks of training for the biggest race of your life. The top 16 places in each age group (rolling down to 20) will represent Team USA on the Gold Coast of Australia. Will you be flying into Queensland next year? We hope so. Remember, this is the ONLY race that qualifies you for this Aussy extravaganza."

Okay #1: 6 weeks, holy molly, I feel the sudden urge to be faster, do more, be more. Calm down Sonja, breathe. breathe.

#2: 16 slots, what the heck? For the last 10 months they have said on their website that it is 8 slots rolling down to 13th. Now it's 16, rolling to 20th. They are seriously going to need to roll down a little farther b/c some people just aren't going to want to go all the way to Australlia.

#3: Yes I know it's the only race, why do you think I'm so stinkin nervous, but yea, thanks for rubbing it in.

So, the time has come in my training where I get to go fast...A LOT. Yes ladies and gentleman, start your engines. My workouts have been quick, fast and peppy. I have been looking forward to this part of training for ooohhh, about 11 months, and now that it's here all I can say is OUCH. I forgot how much going fast hurts. The muscles are actually groaning every night. I have some sort of "build to race pace" in every workout, it seems. I get home from these epic suffer-fests (that I secretly love) and I am hitting the ice bath, the foam roller, the trigger point rollers, the stick, some husband lovin', and occasionally the jar of Advil. I wake up the next morning, and the legs are like normal again. It's just uncanny.

Some Awesome News: Susan won the Leadville 100 mile MTB race this last weekend. Lance Armstrong came out to race as well and he got second in the mens race. But Susan, heh heh, she got first in the women's race. All that, a week after the Wild West Relay. She is truly a stud woman! Here's an excerpt from the Rocky Mountain News:

Though the main attraction lived up to its billing in the 15th running of this race, the top female finisher came as much more of a surprise ... at least, to her.

"I am just shocked," Susan Williams, of Littleton, said after crossing the finish line in 8:40:55. "I just wanted to get under 10:30. I just can't believe how this turned out."

It was Williams' first time riding in the Leadville 100, and she knew little of what to expect but stayed focused on what she though her strengths were.