Trail run with The Pope and JFW

They were chatting all the way while I struggled at the back

Very disappointed with my performance in this run. 

I was expecting more of myself. I was expecting myself to be fine with the pace, to hold myself behind JFW and The Pope for the whole run, and, still, feel fine at the end. After all, the plan was to run “slowly” in the hills for “only” three hours.

Whenever you cross a river prepare yourself to climb. I learnt it works also for running

As soon as we started to run I knew I was up for a hard day. The Pope and JFW were running at the front, chatting casually and the effort I had to do to sustain their pace felt harder than it should have. I had to walk up the climbs four or five times, including the steps up Box Hill.

I used to think I was great going up the steps... until today

By the time the question of what to run next was asked, two hours and a half into the run, I begged to go straight to the car. I had been running slower and slower for a while and even if nothing felt particularly painful I was tired and really looking forward to stopping running. 

The further we run the further back I was

I thanked JFW and The Pope for taking me to the car, for slowing their pace to keep me in the run and apologised to them for my lack of performance. As I said above, I was expecting more of myself today.

Now, if I want to look at it from a positive angle, all I have to do is to remind myself that this has been my longest in kilometres, longest in time, and with more climbing trail run so far, that I have run it with two riders way stronger than me, and that I’m not feeling that bad after the mandatory siesta.

I’ll go with the positive view.

The run in Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/15567834683

Take care of yourself

Javier Arias González