In the days following my DRT 30k race, I find my confidence completely shattered. My running spirit is broken. I re-hash all the errors of my race, and I like Scarlett O'Hara vow to never feel that way again. Bobby's words ring in my head, "it does get easier" and with that note I pick myself up by my bootstraps and move forward by starting over from scratch.
I research races to see what's out there in the coming months. I already know that I'll participate in 24 hrs Hostelity race, and I've signed up for the 12 hr portion. I know that I cannot run for 12 hours, but it's my friends first race---Josh and Leigh and their friend Willy is the RD, so I want to support it. Willy tells me that I can just run whatever portion I want to and that not everyone comes out and runs for 12 hours. So, I make a mental note to run for 6 hours. I do not put much thought into the Hostelity race because it's going to be a training run for another race that I have planned for the end of February.
I do some research on the internet and find a marathon training schedule that I like. I tweak it a bit to suit me, and it's a 4 day a week schedule. This is a schedule that will work for me in the winter months as the days are shortnened. I can run 2 days during the week by headlamp and then weekends in daylight. I make a training calendar and surprisingly, I stick with it. It's my first attempt at running on a schedule. I start on it the week after Thanksgiving.
I recover rather quickly after DRT race. I am not as sore or beat up feeling as the two prior training runs. The first two weeks of my training schedule are hard as I recover and build up my mileage again. On the 3rd week, I feel like I have my running legs back just in time for the 12/10/11 Reindeer Run 10k. I have no ambitions of a win on this road race. It's only my 2nd 10k ever. I sleep well the night before as my only goal is to have fun. I get up and actually eat a good breakfast and off I go. I even considered riding my bike to the race as it's only about 5 or 6 miles from my house. But, I have food donations that I cannot carry on my bike, so I drive.
It's a cold morning but actually good weather for a race. There is no wind or rain. I do my 1/4 to 1/2 mile warm up, and think DAMN, I feel good. I never know how I am going to feel until my feet actually hit the pavement. I am surprised that my competitive spirit has creeped up on me out of no where. It is GAME ON...and I laugh to myself.
The race starts, and I'm mentally having to tell myself to slow down. I am historically bad for fast starts. I am booking along at a 7:30 pace which I know is too fast for a 10k, but I feel good and try to slow down. The first two miles of the race, I am progressively passing people. I make a right hand turn at the 10k portion of the race and the other runners are making a left for the 5k. In the distance, I see a young guy running and then we hit the hills. I LOVE HILLS...and I am happy. I did not know this race had real HILLS. I see the young guy ahead as we approach the 3 mile mark and it's all uphill, and I can tell by the way he is running that he is struggling up the hill. I eventually pass him. Soon, the 10k runners are looping around, and I count the runners that are ahead of me. There are only 4 and they are all guys. I am surprised to learn that I am the first female. I eventually loop around, and a young lady starts cheering me on from the other side as she also realizes that I am first female! I am stunned as this rarely happens in road races. I hollar, "THANK YOU" to her and it's very motivating to have a female runner cheer me on! I estimate that the next female runner is 45 seconds to a minute behind me. I know that if I can maintain my pace up these hills, I am good to go. Somewhere close to the 6 mile mark there is another loop, and I see the next female behind me, she's still a good minute behind me. It's at this point, I realize I am going to win first female overall in this race. I finish at 52:57 minutes on a challenging road course. I am thrilled. I haven't won first female overall since I was 18 years old at a 5k. I am even more thrilled because my first 10k on July 4th in Dahlonega was at a time of 55:03 on an equally challenging course. I have cut over 2 minutes off my 10k time! This was an unexpected gift and helped to partially restore my confidence level again. I continue on with my training schedule.
In the meantime, I am planning to get through the holidays and then start a monthly long trail run in the mountains. I ask Tyler about joining me, and he says he'd like that. But, then I don't hear back from him. I share my plans with Paul about running a mountain trail once a month, and he is in. Dave sprained his ankle 4 times on DRT and is taking time off. So, I decided to research the Amicalola Falls area. I ask my friend Leigh about it, and I shoot Brad some emails with questions that I have. I know they are both very familiar with the area that I want to run. Amicalola is only 15-20 min drive from my house, so I want to be prepared and not go in completly blind.
Paul and I set a date to run Jan. 1st, New Year's Day. I am wanting to run about 16 miles and Paul is wanting to run around 20 miles...LOL So, we decide to run on how we feel that day. We do not know the difficulty of the Approach trail to Springer Mountain, but we are both happy to run. Paul meets me at my house and off we go to Amicalola Falls. It is funny to me that Paul is also directionally challenged, but I am not too worried about it because I know we will figure it out.
We start on the trail and it's been raining, and it's muddy in places. It's completly gray and overcast outside. But, it's a nice day in the high 40's or low 50's. We are running along and we are talking the whole way. This is the most I have ever heard him talk. We are also running past hikers about every 20 minutes. There were a lot of people there that day!
We know that Springer Mountain is about 7 or so miles out. As we climb higher into the mountains, it's foggy and the wind is really blowing. We run over some really big rocks and end up at a campground where it looks like 2 families are camping and there dogs are fighting. We ask them where Springer Mountain is, and they inform us that we just passed it. Paul and I are confused as we didn't pass a mountain? So, we go back out and try to remember where we came from. Finally, we make it back to Springer Mountain after a few detours. We get to Springer Mountain and it's just a pile of rocks. It's really foggy and the wind is just blowing the fog right past us. There is supposed to be some nice views, but we cannot see them too well. I notice an "oven door" on the rock, and I want to open it, but Paul says he's kind of scared to, and I'm hungry and wanting to eat my PB&J sandwhich really quick before I get too cold. We start running again back towards the park talking the whole way. We end up running in the rain. Thank goodness I wore my insulated hoodie jacket, and I put my hood on.
We make it back to the park, and we are close to 17 miles. We both agree to run around the Amicalola park area to get to 18 miles as it's a good compromise between my 16 mile goal and his 20 mile goal. We finish 18 miles in 5:31 hours! I thought that was good for getting turned around a few times and running in the rain. Paul and I agree to keep meeting at least once a month for a long trail run. We both enjoyed the challenge of running this trail and plan to run further in the future. I am excited to not have chased off a potential running partner and to found someone who enjoys talking running and strategies non-stop for once in my life. More importantly, we are both about the same running pace, and we have similar running goals.
Our next race is 24 hours Hostelity, and it is two weeks away. Our strategies are similar in that we both want to run about 6 hours or so.....in our first timed event!
No comments:
Post a Comment