Phantom Limbs

As some of you know I never start at the front, or near the front, of any race pack. Even if I end up there in the first kilometer, I prefer to start toward the back. It let's me see how fast others are feeling and what tricks they have up their sleeves. It was no different this past Saturday at Mountain Madness's Phantom Run.

As usual I a few jokes were slid in between my increasing gasps of air and before I knew it I was stride for stride with the Lazy Trail runner. Just up ahead was our leader and the two of us sat in 2nd/3rd position for the entire 19k. We'd slightly catch up with him on the technical downs, but he had amazing turnover on the flats and was an outstanding climber. This phantom runner out front had a brilliant race and put about a two minute gap on us before we finished in 1:46.

Striding alongside the Lazy Trail Slug

If you've noticed my Suunto Moves lately, you'd have noticed a hell of a lot of zone 1 running and for me it was very apparent on Saturday. I really only had the one gear and was extremely lucky to hang on to Coo. He's always fast so I was thrilled to share 2nd with him.

This is my last race, other than Gunner Shaw, before Orcas Island 50k in February so I hope to pick up another gear before then. I have to keep the plan in mind. We can't always be peaking and we should expect that sometimes our legs just don't show up. For this race, my phantom limbs left me hurting and struggling to keep up.