Congratulations to all those runners who competed and/or completed their race at Sugarloaf this morning. No, I didn’t go, I am still in my non-racing funk, but I knew more than a few runners in both the 15K and the Marathon. Each runner had their own story to tell and the biggest thing is that they trained and then showed up.

Which is the biggest thing – many times just showing up is the difference. All those could’a, should’a, would’a that we all think about after not doing something, that we would’a, should’a and could’a – well they are going through my mind right now.

A lot.

One of the guys I have been running with lately – Jon, ran it this morning. He did amazing finishing 3rd in our age group in the 15K, only 5 weeks out from knee surgery. Needless to say he is a much better and mentally stronger runner than I will ever be. So a big congratulations to him on a great performance.

Along with several runners I know who punched out their BQ qualifying time. 🙂

Getting back to the running log.

The last few days, I have had a bad case of the blahs, not feeling like doing a whole lot and having to force myself out the door to run or just do stuff around the house. So looking at how Jon and some others did, helped to motivat me to get off my arse and get moving this morning. I had seriously considered taking the day off from running.

I was scheduled to do an 11.0 miler, but I only needed 9 miles to hit 40 for the week and it seemed like a perfect day to do a 15K training run. Actually the weather was about as good as it gets for me, low 50’s, light rain and a bit of a breeze. I wanted to see what kind of time a normal for me training run would get in comparison to the Sugarloaf 15K results.

Yeah, I know could’a, should’a, would’a.

I also wanted to see how the Zoom Fly v1 did on a “normal”, but longer training run at a slower pace. One where I was not purposely attempting to pick up the pace all that much.

The first 3.0 miles were at an easy pace, just to get rid of the cobwebs, blahs and crap. Once I got out to Goodhue, I started to feel a bit more like me and naturally picked up the pace going down towards the Pond Road and stayed about the same pace until I got over to Bartlett, where the hill in the photo got my attention pretty damn quickly.

I did see another runner coming down the hill, which is unusual for me to see any runners over that way. I kind of wonder if it was one of the local runners I follow on Strava, I didn’t get a good look at the face, because I was working hard on simply getting myself up that damn hill. We greeted, smiled and kept moving.

Coming back down the other side of Bartlett I picked the pace up a little and then once I got back on the dirt road I slowed things down. The Zoom Flys did great on the wet roads, but on wet dirt…well let’s just say I made it back to the tar without any misadventures.

Now the Sugarloaf 15K course is a fast one and many a PR has been set along it by other runners, which is great, but that is not the couse I ran today. My Pond Road Loop course is a bit more challenging shall we say, but nothing crazy.

That being said, I would have a feeling that I would have done alright based on comparing my time this morning to the race results. That is if I had shown up for “that” race this morning. Which does help my confidence levels and leaves me wondering even more about getting off my arse and doing a few races.

Oh yeah, the Zoom Flys did just fine at the slower paces, I ran this morning, which reinforces the idea that I could probably use them as trainers if I wanted to.

In running races it is all about running with and competing against those that do show up. I don’t show up to races, so I can only talk about what might have bee. The truth is that I don’t attempt to challenge myself very often, to get out of my comfort zone and see how I compare to other runners, both my age group and others. It is a demon that I haven’t quite gotten the best of yet.

Now to work on that part of the equation.

All I know is that running with Jon is starting to pique my interest in actually showing up once or twice at some point.

Right now I have a bad case of could’a, should’a and would’a…

and you know something I am good with that.

However,…let’s add in – for now.