Some days you have it, some days you don’t. Whenever you have a bad race, there are always plenty of excuses.  If you pay close enough attention, you will likely hear a lot of these before the start of an event:  “I’ve been feeling down lately.”  “Legs have been shot all week.”  “I had a hard workout two days ago.”  “I am just using this as a training run.”  “Had a cough last night.”  Etc, etc, etc.  But really it comes down to the fact that on race day you NEED to race.  Not just run, but run hard.  Like that event means something.  It means something to you and the people who organized the event.  You give the best effort that you have on that particular day.  Which is exactly what I tried to do on Saturday morning.

More than 500 people showed up for the Ni-bthaska-ke Trail Race which was held this year at Platte River State Park.  Hosted by the race management group at Team Nebraska Brooks, Platte is located between Lincoln and Omaha, and is one of my favorite places to run off road in the area.  The course (there were 4 mi and 7.5 mi distances offered) was set-up by local trail guru Ivan Marsh.  A great guy, look for a feature on him soon.  To say the course is hard would be an understatement.  Searing hills, tough turns, narrow single track, sand, mud, dirt, loose leaves, bridges, and a water crossing or two combine to make a challenging course that once you are done with you look back on fondly.

I went out with the lead group that included Ivan and some other guys.  Two years ago Ivan and I ran sub 55 on this course, but today was not going to be that day.  Usually I am really strong on the hills and trails, but I quickly realized that the legs were not there.  The leaders soon pulled away and I was in no man’s land with some solid runners chasing me.  I tried to find the rhythm and speed that works for on trails, but just didn’t happen. Even on a beautiful 40 degree morning there were omens.  I forgot my jersey and my watch at home, I never, ever leave those behind.  I sprang out of bed with my 530 alarm, that never happens also.  Pressing on, I found myself in survival mode, even at halfway.  Got passed by two guys in the last two miles.  I felt better on the last stretch of my 20-miler two months ago, than I did at the end of this race.  Ended up with a 1:02 and change (running sub 1-hour on this course is really good) and 6th overall.  Not too shabby, but disappointing to me.  Just goes to show that not all races get to be good ones.  You do this long enough, you are bound to suck it eventually.  Gave what I had today, and I am proud of that.

On the bright side there were a couple of good things.  One, I still love trail running and would not be surprised if I continue with it.  Two, I had Kenny Chesney’s Live a Little, Love a Lot in my head the entire time, which did not suck.  Three, I got there early enough that I was able to do some hiking and play with the timer on my camera a bit giving you the images you see on this page.  Lessons are tough to learn, but most importantly, make sure you learn from them.

All are composed by me and pretty close to the original.  Only a little processing to mess with them and see what the differences are in how they come out.  Comments are always welcome!