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This morning is why after 25 years of running I still start most of my days with a run. Of course I have a few more aches and pains than I used to have, but it is all worth while. I ran with two great running partners, Dave and Simon. It was a beautiful morning that got warmer as the run went on. I met Simon at our usual corner of the trail on our Thursday morning runs and we surprisingly ran into Dave just around the turn. Us three ran together for about a mile having a nice conversation and enjoying the run before Dave, the sprinter of the three of us, turned back for home. Simon and I continued on chatting and laughing about how we get so nervous and uptight about even small local races or "fun runs". After all, we are racing for that all important water bottle! It is also fun and makes running such a great sport that runners are so competitive with themselves and runners that are at their own level. Everyone tries to get the best out of themselves on race day. There is no scoring. Just the time clock. As one of my best running friends always says, "It is what it is". If you have a good or bad day, you get up the next morning and head out for another run. What a great sport we all enjoy! Here is to many more wonderful runs!
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.thumbnail.JPG "Kissing the Hardrock")
simon says:
Yes, that was a magic morning!
It was funny finding out that Patty and I both have targets on our backs; when we race there is a line of people trying to beat us in our age groups, so it is challenging to have low-key races and to put the pressure to perform to one side.
But she's persuaded me to do just that and run the Bolder Boulder "for training". I AM fit enough to run it, just not fit enough to do a quality run -- and beat all the guys I beat last year. So I'll just have to get off that ego/pride thing and enjoy the day, whatever it brings.
I also got the full story of Patty's second-place at the Carlsbad 5k this year. It turns out that living and training at altitude has its disadvantages, too. Namely that when she got to sea level at San Diego, it was difficult to keep her cadence up. She lead this prestigious race all the way, but couldn't raise her finishing kick to hold off Michelle Simonaitis -- there were only TWO seconds in it at the line: 17:02 to 17:04.
The next weekend, back in Colorado, Patty was back at full tilt and won the Wild Oats Earth Day 4k at 5:28 pace in 13:24, a full 30 seconds ahead of the next woman!
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