I promised to post after today’s race and, despite a marathon of elimiDATE episodes showing right now, I’m keeping my word.
First, I want to start off by saying that today’s North Face Endurance Challenge went well. I did much better than last year… by about 25 minutes. For a half marathon time, it wasn’t my best but I am comparing it to road races, which are fairly predictable. The terrain is always the same: asphalt. The out and back course this morning changed from single track trails to fire roads with two big climbs. Plus, there was a heavy rainfall this morning that caused the creek crossings to swell. If I was a Marine in a previous life, I’m sure I would have yelled some two syllable expression while crossing them but, lamentably, that wasn’t the case. Overall, it was a good race and I’m happy I decided to rerun it. I got to gorge post-race with a great group of people too.
Secondly, during the race I was thinking about quite a few things, like thirteen, but there was one thought that stood out. During races themselves, I love to run on my own with very little conversation and loads of focus. However, I really enjoy training and travelling to races with others. Friends offer support, a shared misery, and make the travel to-and-from the race much more enjoyable. Isn’t life more awesome when you’re able to convince others that it will be fun to wake up at 5:30AM, under the cover of darkness, with cats and dogs pouring down while you drive all for the sake of pushing your body to the limit? With that being said, one of my new goals is to convince somebody -- anybody -- to run every race I enter. This introvert’s shell is softening and seeking foolhardy comrades for training and travel. My reading public; you’re on notice.
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