Its official

My first trail race will be the Cave Creek Trail 10k, on Saturday April 23rd. I've gone back and forth in my soul about racing in general, over the last year. With some sound advice from my partner Monica, and a few of the people that i run with (Gordon and Mike.. who have far more racing experience than i do), and just listening to my heart... I've come to look at racing as a measuring stick with where i am as an athlete and as the runner. Believe me it doesn't change a thing about why i run, or how i will continue to approach running, it will just (hopefully) satisfy that competitive curiosity that i sometimes get. Running couldn't be more personal and spiritual for me, but to share that with others i think could be a very good thing. After all i don't train to race, so an occasional competitive Saturday morning once in a blue moon might feel nice.

The idea of this race brought along with it a feeling, or a need to give myself the best possible chance to compete. So this past week I've decided to incorporate some speed work, and tempo runs into my daily schedule... at least for the next month. This will probably be the only 10k race that i do as i would prefer to get into ultra distance (anything longer than a marathon) races as time goes by. Basically i don't like going fast for short distances, I like going slow and steady for long distances. The speed work will be interesting to see just how fast i can actually run (something I've never really known), and I'll learn just what it takes to train the fast twitch muscles which i don't really engage on a regular basis. At the end of the day I'm looking at this as an experience to be had, and to learn something about organized racing to see if its something i wish to proceed with as part of my running. That and it gets me out of town to run in a beautiful place that I've never been.