— Hunter S. Thompson
For the second week in a row, Angela and I have challenged our minds and bodies in competition. This last weekend was Run Woodstock, a three day festival of classic rock and tough trail running in the aptly named Hell, Michigan. The brainchild of a local running guru. the event included camping (which we hope to do next year), 5 different bands, and runs of all distances including a 100 miler, a 50 miler, a marathon, half marathon, and a 5 five miler. Angela and I feel the need for speed, so the 5 miler was the one for us.
There were about 142 competitors in our race. The trail was one hill after another. Narrow. Twisty. Muddy. Filled with roots. Plenty of people ate dirt as they stumbled their way through.
Angela and I prefer trail races. We like the idea of being in nature. Running on dirt is easier on your body. The distance seems to fly by. And then, there’s the mental aspect. We both love hills. We live in a hilly area and we finish just about every run going up a pretty big one.
Trail races psych a lot of people out. Sometimes they take hills too hard and kill their legs. Other times, they’re too intimidated (or tired from the last hill, or haven’t trained enough) and pretty quickly, end up walking. Running downhill, they put on the brakes, afraid to take a tumble. They worry about getting lost, don’t pay attention to the signs, and end up running the wrong course. All this works to our advantage.
A trail race is as much a mental challenge as a physical one. Both of us noticed the negative self-talk of other athletes at as we were corralled for the start. They line us up by our expected pace and many people started with the exclamations about how slowly they were going to run or how poorly they were going to do on these trails. We’ve learned to ignore it. Plus, we train hard and frequently, so we have the edge of feeling prepared.
My race strategy this year has been to go out with the leaders, hang with them as long as I can, and then run the hardest I can run given my heart rate. That strategy has worked pretty well for me. I have placed in my age group in every trail race I have run this year doing this.
This was Angela’s first pure running race in a couple of years and her strategy was to do her best and not get stuck behind the people who were selling themselves short, not pushing themselves, but taking up space.
Angela has not always thought herself a good runner, but I have been watching her times, especially when we do our “speed” workouts, and observed that she is capable of running faster than she thinks. This has shown itself in her strong running performances in the triathlons she’s run this year. With those observations in hand, I expected she’d do pretty well in her age group.
My race felt pretty good. I went out with the leaders, as planned, held off someone who ran practically at my heels for a few miles, and finished strong. I ended up finishing 6th overall and winning my age group and am quite proud of that.
What made me proudest, was how Angela did. She won her age group too, finishing 39th overall.
For our hard work, we got the best race prizes ever:
To be honest, I usually don’t care about the prize or placement, but in just doing my best, but when I saw what was at stake, I got a little more competitive than usual. I suspect that the same thing happened to Angela. Anyhow, it was a great way to finish the day!
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