Cat or Mouse?

Well, I could write a mile-by-mile synopsis of the Blood, Sweat, and Beers trail run yesterday, but it wouldn't be very interesting. Since miles 0-5 blended together aside from the steep downhill known as Cardiac (which I made it down upright until the very end where I slipped and had to put a hand out). And then mile 6 was uphill through the Canyon on part of the Auburn tri course. And then there was a long downhill on pavement. And then more uphill on trail, onto the loop around maybe mile 7, and then down and up, and then a big up, and then almost done.

It went by a lot faster than it did last year, though I did remember most of the sections pretty well. I also had the good idea to start in the front this year, meaning I didn't have to waste energy sprinting past people the first few miles. Though, apologies to everyone who got stuck behind me as I went down Cardiac. And thanks to KH for talking me down part of it.

During the race I started wondering if it was better to be the one chasing or the one being chased. Apparently I did not feel like puking enough, since in that case I would be concentrating on keeping everything down. This goes back to Buffalo Springs, when I thought the majority of the time I was the cat, where in reality I was the mouse. And then at Vineman I was the cat. And yesterday I was both. On the big paved downhill, I knew I was getting chased. But since I'm pretty good at going up, I was able to drop the girl. And then I was able to catch another girl on an uphill later. And then I continued to be the cat, all the way into 4th place because I ran out of ground. Though I am actually not sure I could have caught the women in front of me. 3rd place was a minute and 5 seconds ahead. But last year was rough so I took it conservatively this time.

Maybe in an Ironman it's okay to be the cat, but every time else I think you fare better as the mouse. It's better to control your own race then spend it trying to figure out how many are in front of you and try to chase them down. Or better yet, maybe I should just go back to 2008 mentality when I was just trying to finish!

Or best of all, maybe I should just learn how to descend. Which apparently is just a function of cornering and trusting your brakes. But since I am terrible at cornering, it's no surprise I am also terrible at descending.