Racing Naked: Ohio Outside Trail Race 3

Friday evening's Facebook post:

Will somebody PLEASE give me an excuse not to run the Ohio Outside Trail Race #3 tomorrow morning?

Yep.  That was my attitude.  I only had one person (Sheila) respond, and she told me to go to bed.

I got up for the race, had breakfast, yadda yadda yadda, and I left with my bag o' racing supplies (towel, warm jacket, gloves, Garmin, phone, earbuds, FlipBelt, Kleenex).  It was freaking COLD.

I was further irritated when I discovered that I hadn't recharged my Garmin.  "Well, that is just dandy," I grumbled. "Now I won't know my pace or how far I am on the course or ANYTHING. Way to go, Stephani."

It turned out that running without the Garmin, or "racing naked," was the best thing I could have done.  I didn't look at my wrist during the whole race.  I didn't judge my pace or make any calculations on where I could gain time.  I didn't think, "OMG.  I SWEAR I've gone farther than .27 miles."

And. . . I shaved a minute off my previous time.  Not bad, eh?  Now, I don't think this is entirely due to running sans Garmin because I  know that I am a faster runner in cold weather; however, I do think that the fact that I didn't keep judging myself and measuring the course paid out for me, too.  I did measure myself against other runners--this dude, for example:

You think you're going to beat me?  Really?

You, sir, are going to get chicked.

All in all, I finished happier than when I started, especially after a slice of breakfast burrito and two carrot cookies.  Did I mention that the cookies are the bomb diggity?

This is EXACTLY how I look after shaving off a minute of my time and eating two carrot cookies.

All in all, the Ohio Outside Trail Series is a good, relaxed sort of race if you never have hopes of placing in your AG or at all.  The trail isn't too difficult, and it's very pretty.  The hoodie is freaking SWEET, and the beer glasses are cool, too.  I'd also like to do a shout-out to the mother who brought her ADORABLE Little Punkin to every race and always cheered in the same place--the last bend by the lake before the stairs.  I looked for that cute baby every time I did that loop, and I had to smile every time.  Lady, your baby is a life-saver.

Those cookies, though.

This post is a bit long, so I'll save my recap of the NERC Interclub Relay for next week.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!