I've only done a few trail races and only one other half marathon trail race. It was a year and a half ago while I was deaning at UCA. I'd headed across the border into Idaho and bonked on the five-mile uphill at the Moscow Madness race, ending with a time of 2:09. So toeing the line in Knoxville, I certainly hoped to better that time. Secretly, I guess I thought maybe a 1:45 sounded nice? But I really don't know how to gauge trail times yet.
When I finished I decided I felt best used up as I ever have after a race. I was dead tired, but not in a bonked way. I'd held a pretty steady pace throughout and was quite proud of myself. With just more than 100 people in our race it wasn't a big one, but I hoped to have made top 20.
It was an ideal day for running. Cool and sunny, with some mist on the river if I remember correctly. The sunrise on the way up brought life to my groggy head and the trails at the Ijams Nature Center where we started and ended the race were peaceful and beautiful. The people seemed nice enough, though I didn't really talk to anyone, but I didn't get beat up or anything either so that's something. Overall it was a fun morning for me.
On Tuesday the results showed up online. I was 7th. Yessss... (They didn't have any other results indicators.) So I felt pretty good about that. My time was 1:49:44, which I also felt pretty good about. No, I should be honest: I feel really good about how that race went. I'm just satisfied with my effort, and the results are also very pleasing to me.
Things against me:
- Nursing a strained achilles (my own diagnosis) for several weeks prior
- Meaning, no trails for a few weeks
- Then, only two trail runs the week prior to racing
- Which included Friday's run, the most elevation gain I've done in weeks
- Not hydrating too well week prior
- Pizza Saturday night
- Five and a half hours of sleep Saturday night thanks to daylight savings
- Sitting in car for two hours on drive up
- Starting in middle/back of pack
Things I did right:
- Oatmeal, banana, and later another banana for breakfast (plus sips of water on way up)
- Taking two pairs of shoes and then choosing the right pair for the race
- Starting in the middle/back of the pack meant starting slowly, which was good
- Once the pace settled and I'd passed many folks, I paced behind three guys for a while
- Passed them and then ran behind the next two people for a while
- Passed them and then just tried to stay steady
- I ended up passing eight people in all and none passed me (signifying steady pacing on my part, I think)
- Ran up the hills even though I really, really wanted to walk (not a bad thing, but my cadence was still faster than walking, I think)
- Only drank two small portions of water (one was actually Heed, I think; the lady told me wrong) (which may actually have been a negative as I maybe could've taken some calories early on, but it left me feeling light)
- Smiling at times throughout the race, "forcing" myself to engage intentionally in my enjoyment of it
- I started my running app and then stuck my phone in my shorts' pocket, running the entire race without any idea of pace, time, or distance. I caved and asked at the third AS, but they actually had no clue how far into the course they were. (They did not mark mileage, either.)
- Things the race did right: Having the half and full racers go opposite directions on the loop so that we crossed paths halfway. This was bad in that we had to take turns on the single track, but it was good in that we were able to encourage each other and enjoy some camaraderie.
In all I think I did pretty pretty well on race day and could've done more as far as preparation if I had really wanted to. But I didn't know whether I'd race until pretty much Sabbath, so I just enjoyed it and made the most of it. I'm happy.
I've been working on intentionally being smiling and enjoying myself as I run too. After all runners are happier, right?
ReplyDeleteSounds like a stellar race!