It's been 10 months since my last Trail Race

Wow, I can't believe it's been that long since I've competed in a true trail race. Even though the 50K race I did in June was considered a trail race, the terrain was all bike path with just the start and finish on grass.

So much has changed with me since that last trail race in October of 2006 (Vulture Bait, 25K). That was the last of a series of several races that I did in the Ontario Ultra Series and I was competing for 3rd place in my age category. My focus was not only about finishing but finishing strong and fast. As I had done this race the year before, I wanted to improve upon that result. My body was physically ready for the trails as I had done 6 trail races prior to Vulture Bait. I also knew the course from last year which made it easier to prepare.

I would never have guessed that almost 1 year later I would be doing my first trail race of the 2007 season. Much of my focus this year was trying to improve upon my marathon time and as a result I missed out on some truly great trail races. Although I wouldn't have traded the marathon training experience for anything as it showed me what I'm capable of, I have missed the trails tremendously.

This year has been a great learning experience for me and I've discovered that I truly need to be running more trail races. I know that qualifying for Boston is still a realistic goal for me but it's not someting that I need to spend all of my time focusing on. Instead I want to work on my endurance with the ultimate goal for next year to be running a 50 Mile trail race. This is the equivalent to running two marathons back to back. When I look at the trail runners they are such an inspiration and I want to follow in their footsteps. I find the accomplishment of running for distance even greater than running for speed as it takes more mental discipline to complete these races.

As my focus has switched from speed to endurance, I've noticed that my body is recovering faster than it was during my marathon training. Knowing that I don't have to run fast has allowed me to relax mentally and this has translated into a much more enjoyable experience. I'm also lucky to have friends who also want to run for distance and this will make it more fun when we finish the 50 Mile race together.

I usually get nervous the week before a race, and my last trail race I certainly did. This year, however, I'm going into the 32K trail race with my main goal of finishing the race feeling like I could run another 20K. I know I'll probably get caught up in the emotion of the race on race day itself, but I'm confident that I'll be able to draw upon the experiences I've had on my long slow runs on Sundays. As there is still one week to go before the race I'm sure my mind will start to think back to all the great trails I've run through in the past 2 years. It will be nice to go back "home" next weekend!