A rattle snake’s tail
Slithers into the speckled light
In the nearby bush.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
It’s always a bit of a devilish pleasure when you can ditch a plan at the last minute and come out ahead. And that’s what happened at Saturday’s Billy Goat half marathon.
The plan was to go with my usual hand/butt cheek held 20 oz. Hydrapak flask. But I really don’t like carrying anything in my hands, nor do I relish wearing a pack if I can avoid it. But it was going to be hot, and getting hotter due to the more than half hour delay in an already late planned start time of 8 a.m. And since the race website was unclear as to whether there were aid stations, I filled up, looked around, and figured it was what seemed to be the thing to do.
Yet that itch to race unencumbered got me to ask a race assistant about aid stations, and since there was going to be water at miles 3, 6, and 9, I decided “nothing ventured; nothing gained”, and jogged back to my car to leave the water behind.
And it paid off. I came in third overall in 1:54:21; 9 minutes faster than ultra signup calculated.
However, that doesn’t mean I’m just going to throw caution to the wind and never plan. Strategizing is half the fun of racing; executing even better (I know that doesn’t add up, but it sounds about right.). Yet it can add to the excitement of it all if, once in a while, you allow your last minute gut instincts to be your guide and give in to a little devilish tweak here and there.
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