gadget

gadget

Sunday, December 23

Egg Nog Jog 2012

The Egg Nog Jog up in Terra Cotta is one of those races I hope to still be running when I'm old and slow. I first ran this race when I was just a baby: 15 years old, a running baby, back when I ran in long shiny shorts (a holdover from my short-lived tween soccer career) and big cotton t-shirts. I've run it about 6 times over the past 11 years. Only my previous two times are immortalized in online race results--I have no idea how what my number was back in those pioneer years. The last time I raced it, in 2010, it was the first time I raced with an insulin pump. I was undertrained, unprepared for the hills, and terrified. I finished just a touch over 1:00:00 for the 10.8km course, peppered with mean hills including one climb that lasts a solid kilometre.

This is the type of race that makes your flaws glaringly obvious. It beats you down. It makes you weak. Every time I cross the finish line I swear I'll never run it again, but I keep coming back. This year I wanted to beat it back. I wanted to go under 55 minutes, and I wanted to place in my age category. I wanted that computer print-out SO BAD.

The weather was my first sign that things might go my way: 0 degrees and dry, with no snow at all on those dirt roads. The second sign was near the 2km marker, when I realized that the sluggish 5:30/km pace I thought I was running was actually just my stupid mistake: I was going 3:50/km, downhill, and had read my Garmin wrong. 2k in under 8 minutes? Time in the bank.

I slowed on the hills but didn't stop. I made it to the top of the massive 1km climb without losing too much time. I sped up on the descent to the finish and pulled it off in 52:30.



Holy smokes.

Of course, all the fast runners also had great days and my time was only good enough for 5th in my age category, but can I complain? An 8 minute PR during my off-season? This is my race, man. It's my Everest. This year I wasn't weak, this year I showed it what I was made of. Pat on the back, me, for a year of running well done.