Excalibur Race 2016

I'm now in what I'm forced to acknowledge is the end of my spring break.  It has been a glorious time of knitting, computer games and reading.  The blog has been quiet due to the fact that I'm in the process of powering through a 700+ page Jane Goodall biography.  It feels like too long since I've been away though, so I thought I'd come and report on my most recent race.

Last Saturday, my mom, stepdad, husband and I set out for Melbourne, Florida to run the Excalibur 10-Miler, a medieval themed race.  It was our first time running in this particular event, and it promised an awesome dragon medal, so we were excited.  Well, as excited as it's possible to get while preparing to do something that will take a really long time and be physically painful, anyway.  Melbourne is about three hours away from us, and the race started at 7:00 A.M., so we stayed in a rather spartan, but clean, hotel the night before.

As we assembled at our starting corrals early on race day, everything was delightfully cheesy.  Medieval music blared from the speakers, people were dressed up in period costumes, and some dashing knights from Medieval Times were on hand to start us off with a sword fight.  After listening to a funny, but poorly written, story about how we were on some sort of mystical quest for an emerald to save our kingdom, we were off.

The race started off fairly normally, winding along streets that had been closed down to accommodate the runners. I, as usual, hadn't exactly trained for this race with the dedication I should have, but I was keeping up my normal pace and doing okay.  Things took a turn for the worse when we turned down a private road and onto a ranch.  It was there that I faced the true dragon of this race - a three mile long dirt road. 

Having only ever trained on pavement, this stretch was a shock to my system.  The sand was a bit loose and slippery, and required more effort to run on than the concrete I was used to.  Wanting to quit during races is a standard thing for me, but I have honestly never wanted to give up on a race so much.  I had no idea how much longer I was going to be on the road either, as this was my first time running this one. So, I couldn't even console myself with mental assurances about how much was left to go.  It was pretty awful.

I persevered, however, and finally made it to the end of the dirt road, which seemed like such an accomplishment that it made the rest of the race feel a little easier.  Waiting for me at the end of the race was my dragon medal, which was carefully draped over my head by a volunteer dressed up like a medieval nobleman while the strains of M.C. Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" blared over the crowd.  (I supposed they had exhausted their selection of chamber music by then).

 The thing about me as a runner is that I am terrible at it.  My body hates exercise, and no amount of training has ever changed that.  I have to mentally bully myself into running every mile, and I completely lack the motivation to stick to a training regimen. Every race, from a 5K to a half marathon, feels like an evil endurance test to me.  A lot of people say that running makes them feel strong and powerful.  Running makes me feel like I'm about to die.  

I am always reminding myself that a few years ago, I couldn't even run for a whole minute without stopping, and now I can run a half marathon without taking any walk breaks.  Logically, I know I've come a long way, but that doesn't stop me from hating to pull on my running clothes, hating being sweaty and hating being out of breath. And yet, there's nothing like the feeling you get when you struggle and struggle through a long race and finally cross the finish line.

I guess that's why I'll probably be at the Excalibur race in 2017, facing down my old dirt road nemesis once again.  This race is part of a four year series, you see.  This was the year of the emerald.  I can't miss out on the sapphire, ruby and diamond years.  If you do all four, you get a jeweled chalice, and my dislike for running does not outweigh my love for medieval-style trinkets.  I'm not a peasant, after all.