ROSARYVILLE Maryland, March 23 2014
EX2 Adventures puts on a good race, and today was no exception. The aid stations were well-run, the course was well-marked, and the post-race food was satisfying.
I had registered for this race in anticipation of running it with The Boss and two FotBs. Unfortunately they all wound up dropping out for various reasons – injured, work conflict, untrained – and I had to run alone.
But not completely alone, of course. This was a trail race, after all, so even a curmudgeonly loner like me was bound to get drawn into a conversation or two. I met H., a nice man who told me his friend had flown him to the race in his personal plane and they were continuing on to New York after the finish. I met a young lady who was running the companion 10k race who told me she had run a 50k the week before – I could not resist trumping her story.
I knew I would be exhausted from the previous day’s run, but I was even slower than I expected. I walked almost all of the ups, even the mild ones. I didn’t mind too much, though; I was enjoying being out on the trails. The only thing that (mildly) annoyed me was the volunteers at the last aid station insisting on trying to tell me how well I was doing despite my demurrals. I actually felt like I was doing pretty well given that I’d run 50k for time the day before, but they didn’t know that, so it just felt patronizing.
I admit that I have a phobia about being too far BOP and, a fortiori, DFL. Part of this is a desire to avoid being the reason for volunteers and race crew to have to stick around waiting for the last finisher to straggle in, but to be honest the larger moiety is probably an inadmirable distaste for being perceived as slow.
It’s a little odd – I think I have even more respect for the slowest finishers of most races than I do even for the leaders. They are out there trying something that tests their ability to the limit; it doesn’t matter that their limits may be more modest than those of others. I’m not sure, then, why I care what other people think of my own performance.
I did manage to come in ahead of some 20 people, finishing 95th out of 115 people (plus one DNF) in 2:38:47. I felt pretty good about this, considering.
In any case, I was too spent from the previous day’s effort to enjoy the race as much as I’m sure I otherwise would have. I feel like I wasn’t able to form many lasting memories of the day. I’d like to do this race again when I’m fresh, and with an uninjured Boss.
Miles this race: 13.1
Miles raced this year: 92.7