Running Ruminations

Perhaps there really is something to that old adage “time flies when you’re having fun,” since last weekend marked the halfway point of the PA-USATF cross-country season. Saturday’s meet allllll the way north in Carmichael, a good 2-2.5 hours north of us, up in Sacramento County, was the Rebels 6k, and it was fun and a nice change of pace, both literally and figuratively.

Saturday’s Rebels meet was the first meet that Wolfpack didn’t field a full team for men, women, or masters men. Then again, when you consider that Rebels came less than a full week after the previous weekend’s GGP Open (that we hosted, no less) , and brought with it a huge travel distance, I suppose it’s not all that surprising. Andy, Heather, and I drove north from SJ to the meet, and Isaac met us there to throw-down a 6k in the very flat Ancil Hoffman Park. 

Heather and I joined a bunch of other women runners for the warm-up and to check-out the course, and my initial impressions were that the course was very flat (akin to the Aggies’ Martinez xc meet), save for a couple steep but very short sections, and that the course featured a lot of narrow singletrack, making the propensity to get boxed in very high, if not altogether assured. I’d eventually learn that the race would begin with a large out-and-back on the grass before meandering elsewhere in the park (and in the singletrack), and it’d also end with the final .75 mile (or so) on the grass. With that in mind, we’d be getting two different ends of the running spectrum: boxed in and narrow (on the singletrack) and later, wide open spaces (and questionable footing, on the grass). Cross-country racing is nothing if not an adventure. 

Right off the line, sprinting through the grass, I felt pretty good. Many of the women in my immediate surroundings were the same women with whom I had run the very leisurely warm-up not too much earlier, so it made for a fun and supportive atmosphere; there’s something very cool about recognizing a familiar ponytail/hairstyle and throwing down some good jobs and you’re looking goods and getting it reciprocated. Competitive camaraderie FTW.

Within the first mile, once we finished our little rendezvous on the grass, we were on the narrow singletrack, and I felt as though I had very little room to maneuver. Having little room to maneuver is good for pacing — it keeps you in check and from doing something dumb early on — but then again, with “only” a 6k to run, you don’t have the luxury of a lot of distance to work with.

At any rate, trying to maneuver would be a gamble: do I go around the woman in front of me (and veer very far to the right, up off the singletrack, and hope to resume a spot in front of her, without turning an ankle or tripping on anything in the process?), or do I simply try to hold my position and wait (read: hope) that an opportunity to move arises? Truth be told, I felt like a bit of a creeper because I was so close to the women in front of me in the first couple miles but I wasn’t going around them because I didn’t think I had enough space to. (If you were in front of me, apologies for the heavy breathing and the long delay in finally getting out of your space). 

During the warm-up, the women local to the area pointed out the short and steep hill we’d be running up, and we laughingly agreed that it’d surely burn by that point in the race. We were right. Interestingly, by the time I was on the hill in the throes of the race, some women were walking the ascent, just like at Lagoon Valley. It’s definitely not a value or judgement statement about the runners who were around me and walking the short hill at Rebels; it’s merely an interesting-to-me observation. We all race in ways that make sense to us, and it’s fascinating to see it all play out.  

Finally, at the almost-end of the race, once we were out of the singletrack, we were literally adjacent to the parking lot near the start and finish line, but a good, ¾ mile-long all-grass field separated us from the finish. From about mile 2 to 3, I had moved up a few positions, and though I was getting tired, I felt strong, like I had a little something left. It was a relief to be out of single-file territory and try to let it rip on the final almost-mile of the course and try to pick up the pace that the earlier singletrack kinda precluded from happening. It was getting warm — I think it was nearing 80 degrees by my race’s end — but I tried to find a higher gear and finish the thing strong all the way to the line. I wanted to give whatever I had, and together with the flat course, I ended up posting my fastest time so far this season. It’s not really a fair comparison because each XC course is so different (in both topography and mileage), but hey. I’d (perhaps delusionally) like to think it’s progress.

My eldest had her first swim meet of the season over the weekend, so Heather and I opted for a super short cool-down — only a mile — in which we saw off Isaac for the masters men’s race; I felt guilty for peacing-out before Andy’s race began, but fortunately, he was understanding. I had a three-hour drive ahead of me to get to the swim meet (after first stopping in Sunnyvale), and along the way, I learned that the swim meet was moving along very quickly, all but promising that I’d miss everything that day. Dang! (Good thing these meets are two days long, so I’d get to see Sunday’s events instead).

I ultimately ended up posting 6 and change on Rebels Saturday, and for the rest of the day, I had that satisfying, good-tired feeling permeating my legs and body. Last week, in the days prior to the XC meet, I did a little (fartlek) workout for the first time in months, which I acknowledge probably boosted my spirits a little headed into the meet, giving me the impression I was juuuuuuust this much more prepared than I had been for meets prior. (Placebo, nocebo… it all counts!) Though it was a ton of driving for not much running, as always, I’m grateful for the experience and opportunity. Hard to believe the season is already nearly halfway done, but it’s definitely not too late to jump in on the action… here’s my weekly standing invite once again 🙂