There is that one race.......

   I have been back to racing since the New Year after recovering from an Achilles injury and I thought this would be a good time to dust off the blog.  Recovering from the Achilles injury was a long and arduous process.  With the help of an excellent physical therapist, the healing process was greatly enhanced and I have been able to get back to running.  During the low points, I thought I may never get back to endurance racing.  When I was finally feeling better, I was too busy with work to get back to training consistently.  I also decided to dedicate more time to strength training.  I figured it might be helpful to actually look like a strength coach and put on some muscle.  The high volume of training that I was doing in the past made it hard to maintain muscle and even though I am knowledgeable in strength and conditioning, it helps to look the part.  I still don't have a lot of time to train these days, but I have put together a training schedule to make sure I am getting in my workouts.  I figure it's better to consistently go on short runs then to not run at all.  I am starting to build my endurance and regain the competitive fire.  Since I have been away from the game, things have changed.  I still see some of the familiar faces at races, but there are also some new competitors on the scene.  It's great to see endurance sports continue to grow in popularity and the races always draw a large group of great people.  One surprising new competitor is my son, he consistently whips my butt at every race we go to.  It gives me motivation to train hard and see if I can catch him.  It used to be the other way around.  Unfortunately, I have time working against me and he only grows bigger and stronger every day.  I am so happy for him and I think he can have a very bright future in running and triathlons if he wishes to pursue them in the future.

  This last Saturday, my son and I headed out to the Applegate area to participate in the 2nd annual Ditch Run.  Have you ever had a race that you just couldn't conquer?  I am not talking about getting the win, I mean something just always goes wrong?  So one year ago, my wife and I ran the inaugural Ditch Run and in a final sprint to the finish, I ended up partially tearing my Achilles tendon.  It ended up destroying the rest of my 2012 race season.  The mental and physical pain was almost unbearable.  I came to realize that I identified myself with racing a little too much.  I felt like a huge part of my life had been taken away from me, which was the truth at the time, but there is far more to life than racing and I am much more than just an endurance athlete.  I will not make that mistake again and while I enjoy racing, I know not to take it too serious and just enjoy the fact that I can do it.  So the 2012 Ditch Run was truly my Achilles heel.

  Let's fast forward to the 2013 race. Since my family and I were going to be around for Memorial Day weekend, I decided to give the Ditch Run another try.  It was a cool, crisp morning in the Applegate and I knew it was going to be a perfect day for racing.  I made sure not to repeat the mistakes of last year and arrived early to do a thorough warm-up.  This year's race had a new 10 mile option.  Most of the speed was in that race and they were offering cash awards.  We still had a field of strong runners in the 5 miler and I knew it would be a good battle for 1st place (a battle I knew I wouldn't be involved in).  The race started and I held back my pace while I watched the leaders assume the early lead.  We worked are way down the road to the one and only climb.  I joined a pack of runners and settled in behind them as we made the 500 foot ascent.  I tried to be efficient as possible on the climb so I would have the energy and the legs to run fast on the flat section of the trail. There were times I thought of passing but it's not an easy trail to pass on and there is also a lot of poison oak which I am highly allergic too.  The idea of passing didn't seem all that enticing.  However, I am not the greatest downhill runner and I knew it would be unlikely that I would make up time on the other racers at the steep downhill finish.  Even though downhill running is not my forte, I decided to hammer it the best I could.  One runner passed me and I tried to keep the other runners ahead in sight.  There were times where I felt like I was on the edge of losing control but I kept on my feet.  I only had two sharp switch backs left to the finish and that's when it happened, my feet slid out from under me.  I have never fallen in a race before, but this time I went down, and I went down hard.  Of course, with the abundance of poison oak along the trail, I went right into a patch of it.  Ditch run, you had won again!

 Insert "Ditch Run" where Kirk yells" Khan"!  Just as Khan was Kirk's nemesis, so was the ditch run mine.  After falling, I got back to my feet quickly, spouted some foul language, and jogged into the finish where I could assess the damage.

  I ended up with a few scrapes and a rash that started forming after about 10 minutes, but thanks to a quick Tecnu shower in the Ruch market parking lot, I was able to minimize the damage.  Tecnu really works!  The race wasn't all bad, I mean falling into poison oak is much better than tearing your achilles.  This will be a distant memory in no time and it will not affect my Summer racing.  I also ran a minute and and a half better than last year.  However, my son still whipped me by running about 2 minutes faster and getting 4th place overall.  He is becoming a strong competitor!  Looks like I will have to return to the Ditch Run next year to prove that I can race it without anything going wrong.  I definitely think I can run it better.  I usually like to start out a little slower and ease into my pace but I think I need to go out fast in this run.  Then I can hit the climb early and try to keep pushing the pace up at the top on the flat section.  Hopefully I can hang on during the downhill and see if I can minimize the amount of people passing me, stay on my feet, and not tear my Achilles.    The Sterling Ditch Mine Trail is beautiful and I highly suggest that you check it out. Just because I have bad luck out there doesn't mean you will.  Oh and Ditch run 2014, I promise you this, I will be back with a vengeance!