Barr Mountian Trail Run is a great training run for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon and also just a great race on its own. Manitou Springs has always been a fun place to visit. I always look forward to my pre-race Italian meal and post-race crepes at the European Cafe.
Silverton, Colorado, where I own and operate Cafe Mobius, is known for having one of the best fireworks shows in the state which makes the 4th of July a very busy weekend in town. Followed up by the Hardrock 100 Ultra Run/Race and the first couple of weeks of July are insane. But thanks to incredible employees I was able to sneak away from the shop for 24 hours to run in the Barr Mtn Trail Run.
At this point of my racing ‘career’ I am very used to running under stress, without a ton of forethought but it is this race that changed things.
Ever since I bought the cafe my priorities have been the business, running has taken a back seat, which means I run at any moment I am not attending to the business.
As I was running up the Barr Trail among a great bunch of enthusiastic runners I started to question why I was doing this. I was exhausted, I hadn’t had a day of in ages. The ‘days off’ I did have were full of training for races. I NEEDED some down time. All the same I kept running as it is completely normal to question ourselves while pushing our bodies past the comfort level in races.
But today, every step seemed miserable, everyone’s heavy breathing around me bothered me, I was exhausted. So I stopped, I pulled off the trail and found a boulder to sit on and I watched and listened to runners pass by me unaware of my presence. This is what I needed, a day off. A day to do nothing but what I felt like doing.
On this day, I decided that I need to be more careful about what I sign up for. It is no longer a good idea to enter races that i am mentally not into. I need down time. I can’t do it all.
I walked back down the trail, and I watched the top men finish, something that doesn’t happen being a female competitor. It was fun being a spectator!