Saturday, July 21, 2012

OLD WAYS...



 (Me, all smiles having reached the top of Black Mountain. Photo By: Randy Atkinson)

When I first started "racing" or entering races, I used to start out pretty conservatively because I had no clue how to race as well as no expectations. I'd start out conservatively and then pick it up from there if I felt good, which I often did. AND I HAD A BLAST! I also performed well. Somewhere along the way however, I started to push a bit more from the start and co-incidentally this is around the time when  racing became not as much fun. I have still done well but my mental state throughout the races has been pretty shitty.

My last 2 races, Knee Knacker 50km last weekend and 5 peaks 14km today (the following weekend) I started out fairly easy. In fact today, I seated myself in the 3rd heat which meant that I left the starting gates 1-2 minutes after the lead packs.When you start a bit further back, you don't get caught up in the pack. Also, sometimes you end up going a bit slower than normal and if the trail narrows and you get stuck behind people. This isn't such a bad thing at the beginning. If it's too painfully slow of course you politely pass and carry on. Today I just gained momentum and had legs to run every single hill. Pretty much everyone around me (men and women) were walking the ups and I wouldn't blame them, the trail was like stairs but for some reason I just didn't stop running. I eventually caught up to the lead female with 2 km to go and hammered it on home. Thanks "Money" for getting me into the race!

I had SO MUCH FUN running today. My body didn't feel 100% going into (so I had low expectations) it but while I was running I felt like Heman! It was great. It feels so much better passing people at the end than being passed and I think there is something to this whole starting out slow thing. So far it seems to be working and racing has become super fun again.

Woot Woot. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend. There's a lot of people both biking and running 100 miles!

See you on the trails!


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