Saturday, August 30, 2014

Moderate Levels of Caring

When I was running Ragnar, I saw a van that had written on it a message that perfectly encapsulates my current philosophy of racing: "We don't care, but we care."  That's basically the whole thing.  I sign up for these things, and I'm like, this will just be a fun way to stay in shape.  And it basically stays that way, but then I also like passing people and finishing in the top quarter of the race and stuff like that.  I don't care, but I care.

So anyway, my A race this summer was the Urban Trail Half Marathon.  I've been wanting to get into trail running.  Even after my surprise appearance at Ragnar the week before, I was really excited to get out there and try out single track running.

I knew it would be hard, so I reminded myself many times that I was "running, not racing," in order to really hold back at the start.  I enjoyed the varied terrain and the camaraderie and the excitement of trying something new.  Here's me running, not racing, down some steps on to a new trail.  I stole this photo off the website for the event. I am the person in the pink shirt and gray shorts.


As the race went on, I was still running, not racing, but I found myself picking people off.  I'd just look up, fix my eyes on a woman in front of me, and calmly run her down.  It kept things interesting. I think I passed about 15 women between miles 7 and 11.  None of these people passed me back. I'm going to be honest admit that it was gratifying.  So much that I managed to eek out a smile while also looking awful running past the photographer at about mile 12:


You can imagine my surprise, then, when I crossed the finish line and noticed several of the gals I'd passed milling around drinking water and chatting.  What the heck? How did they get there?

Well, turns out a bunch of people missed a critical turn around mile 10.5.  This missed turn resulted in them running 11.5 miles rather than 13.1.  Of course, on the results sheet, these people, whom I've identified in the many, many race photos by number, appear AHEAD of me in the results.  Even though I painstakingly passed them one-by-one in a considerable "I don't care, but I care" effort.

The race promises to sort out the results, probably by using the photos, as I have done.  Maybe they'll post results for the 11.5-mile people?  In any case, it's not a big deal, obviously.  Except that it is.

3 comments:

LH said...

Love these photos.
I think the 11.5ers should be disqualified and barred from future events.
Missed turn? I think not.

mm said...

I think you look great in the photos. Way to care but not care!

Anonymous said...

This would bother me...however, Maybe the race organizers are to blame...still I think they should sort the results. You do look great in the photos!