Finished an 8-miler today about 2 minutes faster than my previous best for the distance (my unofficial time had me at an hour and 18 minutes, we'll see what the official results say), and placed in my age group. The highlight of the race had to be the volunteer at the stream crossing (yes, it's 24 degrees here and they had us cross a stream that was 20+ feet wide and 6 inches deep....I had splash from the knees down and was thoroughly enthused by the cold, until I tried to take my shoes off at the end of the race and realized that my laces had frozen together, which made for some hefty pulling so I could get out of wet socks...anyway) who was yelling "veer right, come straight towards me....it doesn't look like it, but that's the best way through! On the left there are rocks you'll fall over!" So I braced myself, braved it, and splashed on through. :-)
Next on the list is a 14-miler in February. I'll do another 13-15 mile in March, and then I'm going to do my first-ever ultra in April. I'm more than a little nervous about it, and today's struggle to keep my normally clockwork pace made me realize that I need to quit relying on pure mental toughness to get me through, rather than training right. I might be able to fake an 8-miler (especially on a lovely, hilly, rooty, rocky, wet stream, muddy course), but not a 30-miler.
Today I really noticed one thing that has always caught my attention in my running exploits- I don't have a typical runner body. That long, lean, thin muscle structure that most people think of when it comes to distance runners. I was one of the only women at the race today who had much of a butt, I've always (my whole life) been just a bit thick through the thighs (I'm my father's daughter that way). And my high school cross-country coach (who practiced a cut-and-paste thought experiment involving picking a feature or two from each of his top runners to build his dream champion runner) always used to say he'd take my shoulders and ankles any day because they're both strong (ie, not skinny). This always makes me wonder, because your butt is a running muscle....so maybe my endurance comes from another place than the endurance these other runners have? I dunno. Whatever the case may be, I'm quite happy with the results that my return to running have produced....I never expected to be thinner now than I was before children. And most importantly, I'm comfortable in my skin.
Anyway, now that I'm home, with the mud rinsing out of my clothes in the washer and me all nicely warmed up and settled in sweatpants and a hoodie and some thick socks, life is good. I wish that writing came to me as easily as running. *sigh*
2 comments:
I love this! I'm glad you find such fulfillment on the trail. Good luck with the ultra!
Thanks! I liked your idea of finding a race to run together. Fill me in, I'm pretty flexible in the summer.
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