Training for a race? You have to do three things: take whatever God-given talent you have, train as well as you can, and then go out and see what happens. On this very trail in Farmville there's a 50K ultra waiting to be run on Dec. 6.
If you're training for it, you've got to ask yourself, Can I commit the time to training? If not, it's better to pick a race that fits your schedule. I'd rather be successful at training for a race I can do than having to quit training because I wasn't realistic about my time resources. Part of the magic of a race is that it doesn't care who you are: rich, poor, teacher, student, etc. It rewards one thing: giving it your all.
This morning's sermon at church was a marvelous exposition of Psalm 19, which contains a declaration that the sun "rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race" (Psa. 19:5, NLT). In training, there's a sweet spot between boredom and exhaustion. Find it, and you will thrive as a runner.