Hit the Trail

My neighbor Lorna organized a race, Hit the Trail, this morning at nearby state park. She has made two mission trips to Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake and organized the race to raise money for the Open Door Mission. I have tremendous respect for what she's done and wanted to support both her efforts in Haiti and her attempts to organize a new race.

Last night I had a terrible night's sleep, my mind was racing, I couldn't get comfortable and I ended up spending most of the evening on the couch as not to disturb John. I was feeling sluggish this morning, but motivated to show up.

The event consisted of a 2 mile run/walk and a five mile trail run. There were about 75-100 racers there (not bad at all for a new event in November in our small community) and the group began the race together. About 1 mile in the 5 mile race split from the 2 mile one and.... I thought about it. Still feeling sluggish, feeling a bit chilly, but I pressed on. There were probably only 40 or so people who made the turn for the 5 mile route. Even though I was moving along at a pretty good pace (for me) I was still at the back of the pack.

At the 3 mile mark I had shaken off the cobwebs, was nice and warm and a great song came up on my shuffle ("Read My Mind" by the Killers). I thought "I've got a little gas in the tank, I think I'm going to try to speed up. I finished my last two miles faster than my first two miles, passing a handful of people. I clocked in at 46:40 which I think I am going to call a new PR. (I ran the Drake Relays 8K in April in 47:28 - an 8K is just a hair shy of five miles.)

A race I didn't train for (at all) on a morning after a fitful night's sleep after what has frankly been a pretty crummy week. Sometimes running makes no sense. Oh, and even with my new PR I think there were less than 10 people who came in after me!