I joined Nashville Running Company’s trail running group in January and ran with them twice. Now I am officially unprepared and a day away from tangling with the beast.
The Rock/Creek River Gorge Trail Race in Chattanooga is “only” 10.2 miles, but the terrain is a little dicy as shown in this video.
I’m not scared, but this 10.2 miles is supposed to be as much effort as a 1/2 marathon and I haven’t run more than 8 miles since Ironman Louisville (if you want to call that running). Adding insult to insecurity is the fact that I ran “The Nasty” (6 miles) two days ago as “a test” of my running fitness, and am still little sore.
As I sit in my coffee-shop-office a day before the race, 90% of the bones in my body are telling me not to do it.
“It will hurt.”
“You might get injured.”
“Why kill yourself when you could relax all day and wait for your Badgers to roll Arizona in the Elite 8?”
All of these excuses flood my vulnerable brain and I know that is exactly the time I shouldn’t listen. Steven Pressfield calls it “resistance” and it can take over your life if you let it.
I like to use the triathlon “transition analogy” to battle these moments of non-commitment. It’s hard to be in a bike-state-of-mind and “want” to go running, but 90% of that fight is just taking the steps. Eventually you adjust and forget about the bike.
In this case, the transition will be from a warm and cozy bed to a cold and lonely mountain. Talk about blasting through your comfort zone. And when you boil it down, I think that’s what growth and life are all about.
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Trail racing, no, constant running improves your body’s performance. Not only adapting to the running form but also improving health. I say, keep running and enjoy.