CCM Post

Racing is always a bit surreal. It is nothing and so much like your training runs that you do. One large difference is the adrenaline that hits you when you reach the course and you see runners of all shapes and sizes preparing to show others, but mainly themselves what they can do. The racer has never left me and I had to admit that I not only had an adrenaline surge, but butterflies. Thoughts of: Can I break my goal of 8:30 miles? Will I injure my ankle again? Can I keep others from passing me? What if I just threw pacing out the window and tried the classic fly and die strategy? And before you know it your off, whizzing down the course, throwing pacing out the window while you burn some of that excess energy. I think my rowing days hinder me in this respect because spring crew races always begin from a cold start and boats immediately take the rate up to sprint like levels before settling into the body of a piece.

The body of the piece is where it becomes a bit of a training run as you set your body up to run a pace looking for mile markers and familiar terrain (a nice advantage when running the same leg). Then you begin seeing the runners with the bright orange batons and the competitive spirit takes over once again and I began looking for ones to pass and making sure few runners with them would pass me. There is no way I would have sprinted the last 100 m until the guy I passed a couple of miles ago came up and said lets finish strong and we just took the pace up.

But, the real beauty in running a relay are the people: the ones that surround you on the course, but the people who on your team. It was wonderful seeing FA and Mrs. FA putting their hard work to the test and watch Agricola put out a great time when just a few years ago running was just an occasional thing. How about VTR pushing through his own barriers to reach the finish line, face encrusted by salt and sheer determination. I suppose it is just watching the blog come to life with people that I have known since college running and sweating together. Thank you for the laughs and good food the other night and I am honored to be part of the whole experience with a group of wonderful people.

Have a great day!