Six Foot Monster - update 5

Only 4 sleeps to go until Six Foot Track Marathon race day!!! It's a bit unreal/surreal that we're this close to the event - some would say that all the hard work is done, while others would say it's still ahead of us over the 45km of the Six Foot Track trail.

The best thing about this week is that it's only a 3-day work week, after a public holiday yesterday and taking Friday off to get up there. Only 3 shirts to iron...who cares that I'm missing casual day Friday!! Needless to say my mind is drifting a bit...thinking, wondering, dreaming, hoping, etc, about what might happen on race day. There's still so much unknown about the event to me.

My official race number will be 12, with two veterans of the race having the top-2 numbers - between them they've done the race 50 times. That's incredible, and worthy of the honour of wearing bibs #1 and #2. So that means my "seeding" is 10, but there's also another very good runner who should be in the top-5 but with a lower number, for some reason.

This is all part of the pre-race research, alongside actual course familiarisation, logistics, schedule, etc. When I raced triathlons I used to do as much as I could to know who I was up against in my age group - who they were, recent results, strengths and weaknesses, etc. It allowed me to be better prepared for how the race might unfold in terms of likely placing during the event. Sometimes it would be daunting to realise how good some athletes were, and then to realise they're only human, and in most cases really nice people who share a similar love of sport and competition as I do.

While knowing who my competition was didn't necessarily change my race tactics, it did remove some of the surprises that often occur during races, and the comfort of knowing where you are during the actual race. It also made me more conscious of how I was feeling during an event, and what level of confidence I might have for the remainder of the race. This approach often helped bring out my competitive instinct and best racing performances, and sometimes to perform above what I thought.

It's ironic saying that since my attitude with running contrasts with triathlons in that, for me, running is about my personal limits, challenges and satisfaction and not necessarily about race placing and result. Nonetheless, often I can't help but get caught up in the excitement of the maybe being "in the mix" of a race, especially when I've invested some emotional energy into the preparation like with the Six Foot Track marathon. In reality this reflects a great deal of ignorance, naivety and perhaps arrogance since there is just so much unknown about the event for me.

As my very learned swim coach always says...concentrate on the process and the outcome will look after itself. In other words, shut up and don't get ahead of yourself!!!!

The main thing about this week is to recover from the King Island Imperial 20 on Sunday, a hard 32km race where I surprised myself with how I ran. Right now my legs are rather dead & heavy, but with some easy days ahead think I'll be OK for Saturday...time will tell.