Grace and Joy

No, I didn’t meet two woman named Grace and Joy recently, though the day before the race this post talks about had elements of that ;-)
Grace and Joy – that was my intention for this run.

The run was the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty 12 miler in the Golden Gate Canyon State Park near Golden, CO (yes, lots of Golden). This is the fourth year of the race with the premier event being a 30-miler, but also a 12 mile and 7 mile race. The entire course is on the trails in the State Park. I signed up this year after hearing good things about the race and course. I’ve also never run in the State Park so that was a bonus. When I signed up I didn’t look at the course details because I was interested in running in a new place, but several days before the race when I started checking out course details I found the course had more than 3000 feet of climbing in 12 miles. Yikes! Good thing I didn’t know beforehand.

So first, some results. My overall time was 2:11:05 for the 12 miles. I was 5th overall out of about 100 runners with half men and half women. I was also first for masters (40+)! I didn’t know it at the time, but second place masters was just 10 seconds behind me, and third just 17 seconds behind. I was thrilled! Overall a great race and great course.

But back to Grace and Joy …

Over the past 8 weeks or so, most of my weekend runs have been fairly targeted and somewhat hard. I’ve been practicing pacing, running for pace, running hard and fast. Really pushing edges and seeing what I could do. My body was telling me I needed more fun with no purpose – just to go out and run. Last weekend was one of those. This 12 miler was going to be another. I had no intention of racing – all I wanted to do was enjoy new trails and have fun! Joy – intention #1.

The night before I went through my pre-race ritual of getting everything ready. All my nutrition for pre-race, during the race, and post-race; clothes for driving to the start, during the race, and then after the race; Traumeel and Tiger Balm, compression socks. My mind completely focused in a ritual I’ve done dozens of times before, though usually it’s been for cycling. I was feeling ready. So as I lay in bed drifting off, I put some attention on my intention for the race. Certainly fun was the top of the list. I also wanted to feel the rhythm of my body, my legs, my breathing syncing with the flow of the course, the weather. Grace. Letting grace happen, being in the rhythm.

The morning of the race I awoke and felt good, I felt peaceful even with a short night of sleep. What occurred to me as I started my morning routine was something Roger Joslin writes about in “Running the Spiritual Path.” “Prepare mindfully for the run. Dress slowly, methodically as if you were a devout priest and your running clothes were sacred vestament.” With that in my heart, I began getting ready. What a difference that makes to start with that presence. I believe it helped set the tone for the rest of the run.

I like getting to events early, and because of logistics of the race, location, and shuttles, I had to be at the start almost 2 hours before the race began. During that time I make final preparations, stretched, and brought Joslin’s book to read. Somewhere in the book he recommends that if needed, read before a run – some Psalms, Rumi, poetry – something to again set the stage. Indeed I was reading Joslin’s book itself which was inspirational and quite appropriate for my focus and for the day.

With an intention of Grace and Joy, preparing with great awareness and sacredness, and some heartfelt reading before the start, I was in a great place to begin a run!

For the run itself – it was full of grace and joy. Steeped in rhythm and flow. The first mile I paced easily and smoothly letting my body warm up. The first big climb went by easily as I was able to run most of it. The downhill that followed was just fun! Dancing down through the rocks, in control, and flying! The second big climb was the lungbuster – steep and most of it I walked! With most of the race above 8000 feet, my lungs were the limiting factor today, my legs were along for the ride. At mile 8 we reached the top of the second climb at 9200 feet, from here it was almost all downhill. Again, what fun to prance and dance downhill, keeping in mind what my first lessons of downhill running from Jerry Lynch months ago. What fun to fly downhill again – in the process I caught 6 people in the last 4 miles and finished very strong.

For this run, I was blessed with grace and joy! Let’s do it again sometime!