Blog Post

Turkey n Taturs 7th annual trail runs today.  I signed up for the 10k, not really sure how I would do.  I had a rough go at Pumpkin Holler 2 weeks ago and a good Tulsa Run last week.  Coming into this trail run I was still trying to shake off how terrible I felt that whole 15k at Pumpkin, and how I felt about my performance. Felt a little pressure knowing I had a week of rest, had good energy, all systems go for a good race today....so if I did poorly I had nothing to blame a poor performance on except...well... me, my running ability, my mental toughness.  That's a good mentality to have eh?  I of course "know better" than to think like that.  I know to do my very best and see where that falls and build on that and learn and grow, but those negative thoughts are there too.  I think I might not be inclined to think like this if I weren't investing so much of myself (and loving it by the way) into this new found passion called trail running...and not just running, ....but....racing.  I like racing.  I've never been a "racer".  High school track I was one of the slow ones.  I never even thought or believed I had potential to actually compete at anything.  Here I am 39 almost 40 with 3 kids and an established career and I'm feeling very competative toward other 39 almost 40 year old moms on the trails...that's just plain NUTS!  But I love it, and those other 39-40 year old moms love it too!  Soooo, today's race low down.....I decided since this is a relatively short distance I would just jump out there. Start at the very front and just GO!  There was a young 14 year old girl running this one that looked nervous and the race director asked if I would pull her along and get her ahead of the conga line so she could do her thing too.  I pulled her to the front and told her I knew she could go fast and to take off and have fun. The gun went off and we did!  We took off in first and second place.  I got ahead of her and stayed in first until after the first 1k.  The first and second males quickly passed and went on.  the 3rd male stayed behind me for the next 7k and the rest of the pack fell farther behind.  He stayed right behind me the whole way on a rocky/rooty single track trail with a few sweet sections of flat or downhill soft dirt single track.  No one in front of me. I kept wishing he would pass me so I could pace behind him for a while. I made myself run in that zone. That zone where you know if you go any harder/faster you won't be able to maintain it any slower and you're not giving your all.  As soon as things felt any less difficult, I amped it back up.  Downhills I ran as hard and fast as I could. Felt like I was flying over rocks...I was definitely flailing. My arms waving wildly at times, I felt like Yoda in one of the newer star wars movies..a flying Yoda.  I did get a little green feeling on occasion too! but that was when I was going uphill...no flying... just one foot in front of the other cycling my legs as quick as I could going up up up.  At 8-9K that third male passed me and took off.  Asshole.  KIDDING of course !!  It was great to finish...first female!  ...And I smashed the female course record by 6+ minutes!!  I was 4th overall and it was great to get congratulations from the big boys who finished up front.  Really felt great!  I had a great day! ...And that 14 year old girl did great too...and she had fun!