Honest Effort

Ran a trail 30k last night with temps hovering around 106 degrees at the start.  My only goal was to push myself as much as possible and give a fully honest effort.  After finishing the first of two loops, I was weary of having the confidence to replicate the first 9+ mile effort.  But, surprisingly, I was able to keep pushing and running everything until I was finished.  My legs never failed me and my gut was perfect the entire time, which has consistently given me troubles in these evening races with the high temperatures. But, I attribute this to making a small adjustment in my nutrition plan for the race.  It allowed me to push at will and keep the effort at a good level.

I ran without a watch during the race, mainly to ensure I didn't allow any excuses to affect the effort.  It worked really well, especially after the first loop when I saw the clock and could only think, "damn! did I really run the first 9.5 miles that slow???".  That gave me the motivation to keep pushing for the last 9 miles to minimize any lost time for the remainder of the race.  I had a pretty good fall about midway during the second loop which left me very muddy (sweaty body and powder fine dirt don't mix well!) and scrapped from the back of my neck down to my butt.  I began yelling due to a severe calf cramp that developed while laying on the ground.  After finally getting up, I had to retrieve my headlamp and then search for my bottle which went flying into the woods.  Typically, when this happens during a race, it means I'm pushing the pace.  I wasn't upset at this, but very pleased because I knew it meant I was giving an honest effort. 

About 2 miles from the finish I finally closed the gap on a skunk. Yes, a skunk! It was running down the trail in front of me and I immediately eased the pace and kept yelling at it to get off the trail. After about a minute it ran off into the woods and I continued on my way. Thankfully, it kept it's tail down the entire time so I didn't think there was too much of a chance of getting sprayed, unlike last year, almost to the day, when i came within a foot of one on a predawn training run--it sprayed, but miraculously missed me.

I crossed the finish in 3:09, which I was very pleased with and was told I was 5th overall (174 starters).  I wasn't running for a place, per se, but just trying to give an honest effort for the entire race.  I couldn't have performed any better.  It was all I had.  A few minutes later, I was told the clock time was for the 60k. That race had begun 15 minutes before we began the 30k, which really put my actual time at 2:54 and change.  Bonus!