so how do you train for 31 miles?

There's one thing about punching in that credit card number to a race site.  It makes you think.

Mostly "oh my gawd, how in the world am I going to run that far?" or "do I need to check myself into a mental institution"...but when the panic stops, reasonable questions remain.

Like how am I supposed to train for this sucker...

What does a 1,500 foot climb in two miles actually look like...

Is there perhaps a 5k option...Okay, I'm a little more committed than that, but the question of how to train does keep me up at night.

Thankfully I have some great running pals that have been helping me out on that front.  Of course, some of their advice looks like this:

There is no right way to train for an ultra. Do what feels good to you. Some run 40 miles a week, some run 100.

(Which, on rereading, is better than how I first read it - which was "some weeks run 40 miles, some run 100." That had me panicking.)

With crystal clear advice like that, how could my training go wrong?

What the advice boils down to is basically this.  Train like you're training for a marathon, but try to do some running on the same type of terrain you'll see on race day.  Or...do back to back long runs that total the mileage you are looking to cover on race day.  Or...do a run of up to 25 miles on one day.

How about a combination of all three?

Here's how I think I'll try and go about this ultra training.  I have two long runs planned - 20 on the trails and then 30 on the trails between now and then.  I also have four back to back runs scheduled, which will build from 23 miles to 34 miles of total distance between now and race day.  I am going to try for one day a week of tempo or interval running to keep the legs moving along, but nothing too far.  And then rest of the miles will be nice and easy, though not as nice and easy as the long stuff.  I'm making sure that I have at least one full day of rest once a week at minimum.

Hope it works.

I'll keep ya posted.