Peterson Ridge Rumble!

I rumbled, tumbled and stumbled my way through the rumble on Sunday. It took me 5:54:40 or 9:43 pace. I am very pleased with the outcome. With no cut back week and a fairly tired training body I did the best I could do. Most ultra runners use races as training runs. It's a good way to be social, get a good workout, have aid on a course you tend not to run often. However I find the mental aspect of this kind of training situation to be tricky.

Going into a race when your not really putting your head down, focusing and giving your very best is not easy for me. I have such a desire to see how I can improve and I like the challenge of a race environment so lining up and deciding it's going to be a slow one doesn't work for me. Instead I need to line up and let the day unfold. No pre-conceived plan or outcome. I am such a mental case that if I tell myself I am tired and it's going to be painful low and behold it is!

When reality sets in and pain is not temporary the mental games begin. Peterson was a bit of mental game and thankfully I think I won this round. The weather was great and the scenery was perfect. Not to mention the dry trails....ahh something we haven't seen much of lately. The rumble is a running race! With my fitness there is no reason for me to walk here. I forgot how much that hurts. The lack of long climbs to stretch out the body makes my body hurt more. From the get go I was moving with a labored stride. Waiting for my body to warm up and my groove to kick in was a lost hope but I stayed with this thought train for a good 15 miles. Although I continued to hope for this moment all day I only got about 20 minutes of magic. Fortunately and not surprising given it's my standard mode of operation it came at about mile 33 where I caught Bret. That was fun!

So what do you do when your running a training race and you feel like lead? Well, there are a few choices. One, you could quit, two, you could just wallow in it begging for it end or three, see it for what it is...A TRAINING RACE! A race where things are going to be difficult and you just have get over yourself and deal with it. Accept it as part of the process and see it as a step in the right direction for one you want to really give it your best shot. It took me to about mile 15 to get over myself. At which time I was able to become one with the pain and use it as a tool. A good memory for later days.

I don't know what it is about those central Oregon trails but my feet caught everything and most of it invisible. However, let me assure you ladies out there chivalry is not dead. I fell and before I knew it I was being lifted by two men who stopped, snatched me up and wanted to be sure I was fine. I not a tumbler but I have fallen before just to be jumped over and left for dead. I swore Sean installed some sneaky system to catch every toe that passed over it because I was like a rag doll out there. Of course it could have something to do with the fact that my legs were not springing up as they should. It was a fun day, hard but really fun. I got to run a bulk of it with the Corvallis gang and they are simply chatty Kathy's out there making it look effortless.

Bill and Micheal did the 30K. They had a good time and Bill isn't really sore. I punched his quad just be sure and nothing! Now this would be no big deal except Bill didn't really run. He did a few 5 mile runs, one 8 miler and one 17 miler on accident. Cheri rocked the course PRing but something awesome! Good time, good people...thanks Sean!