Try a Trail #4

I had a pretty good run today. I mean to say that it was joyous. The type of run where expectations are at the very lowest ebb and the results are humble and honest.

The trail was fragrant with the scent of ripe berries for the entire distance. Everything was moist and redolent with the smells of coming fall. The poison ivy was all turning colour. It was spectacularly beautiful to be out in the forest today.

The official results page is not posted yet, but I dedicated my race today to coming in last. I don't know how many were in the field today, but it is getting thinner every race. I think there were fifteen men. I ran with a long time runner and triathlete at the very back and ensured that she crossed the finish line ahead of me after an hour and thirty seven minutes of running.

I was still shaken or rather am still shaken by the demands of the concrete dust and the resulting sore body parts from the assault on the basement rock wall. It was a cool lightly overcast day where the trail was not too muddy and the dew was still on the grass. It was a brilliant day for a run and I ran the entire thing aerobically or very comfortably at least.

I've noticed others at races accompanying slower runners to encourage them so I figured I could accompany M and know both our days would be better for the effort. We didn't talk constantly, but we did have some fun along the way. M stopped at the first water station for an outhouse break and I hung around and waited the few minutes it took to get back in gear. It was a relaxed day without many expectations and as usual it was a great way to go.

The irony is that at 1:37:15 for 13.8km I was at the same pace as the last race, but two kilometers farther and a very low perceived effort. #3 in the series was brutally demanding and today's #4 was a cake walk at the same pace over the same type of terrain. The mind is a wild thing. Perception is an odd game. Expectations are potent guides to success and failure.

I took no water or food for the run and managed very well on a heavy breakfast in the wee hours and again with the group at the ranch house after the run. They were kind enough to wait until ten minutes before we slow pokes came in to begin to serve so we got to enjoy our visit afterward too. Dwayne is getting the hang of this race director position very well I think.

Pam had a great race to finish second in the women by seconds and first in her age category. Steve did well too, but I'm not sure if he was second or third overall. Happy faces all round the table this time. Last time was a little less enthusiastic for many of the people I knew there. Weird how the stars align for that type of thing.

Anyway it was good fun and I'm hoping to be in good shape to finish up the series on October 18 with a good showing again. What a great thing it is to be alive.
Be well.

Try a Trail #3 / barn paint

What exactly was I thinking by running a lot of slow miles? Certainly not a performance improvement, surely! It cost me another thirteen seconds per kilometer to go from racing the 6km trail race to the 12.28km race on Saturday. I have been running a very monochromatic training pallet and it shows up in racing times that don't get any faster.

I know this will be the result of running a lot of slow distances in training and still I expect my times to get better. What a maroon. I write tonight to remind myself that I set out to work on my endurance this summer and not my times. I feel better already. I have impossibly bad recall.

Endurance it is then. The next race is in three weeks. I'll eat my humble pie and continue to push my mileage. A six mile run is my normal distance now and that's far beyond what I was able to do last year. Gratitude is the attitude!

This race involved some dancing with the devil technically speaking. What am I thinking when I sign up for these things? Like it's going to be fun? Karen and Jackie were great company, but I couldn't stay with them after the half way mark. They are marathoners and I am not... yet.



Here's a link to an image of the whole crew while we were were all still mud free

On another note, I'm feeling completely polluted after painting the barn today. Wow is it red! Went through 40 liters of paint and didn't manage to get the fourth wall covered. Did I mention that the colour is red? The barn looks like someone went loopy with lipstick. I feel like a toxic waste dump. What nasty stuff paint is. On the upside, the sprayer I borrowed rocked the house in all the right ways. Wow was that fast. I was all done painting in well under two hours. If the guy had known to put the sprayer away with some mineral spirits in the lines, valve and pump after using the spray unit for latex paint, life would have been much easier. As it was, there was quite a bit of time spent reclaiming valves and such from the demons of rust before we could get underway.

Lots of family help showed up for the day and there was a lot of food, wine and song to be celebrated with after the work was done. Meite was home, Bonnie is finished work and Manon is sleeping in a tent full time these days. She's on a roll, that one. Went fishing with frogs and Joe this past week and came home educated in lots of new ways. Life in the slow lane. Booyah!

Micho brought an interesting friend out with another sprayer and he was a welcome addition to the games today. Vince is a specialized mechanic and we shared many common interests. Unfortunately his sprayer didn't get a chance to shine much, but the company was welcome and appreciated and his help and experience was second to none. As usual, my sister in law was all energy all the time and helped a dirty job go along much faster than it would have gone without her.

Try a trail #1

First trail race is in the bag.

That was tough. Apparently no light weights show up to these things to make me look better than I am. :P

http://trailrunmanitoba.com/results_6k.php

What a demanding day. I'd like to be happy with this and should be. I got just about all of my potential out of this effort. I got a side stitch twenty five minutes into the race. I think I've had maybe two others in the five or so years I've been running. I had to slow way down to cope with the pain.

It was well organised and a beautiful day to run.