Race report: Evergreen Soaring Eagle Run

Saturday I ran the Evergreen Soaring Eagle trail 10mi and loved it!  I placed 1st woman and 9th overall out of roughly 200 people, and set a new course record which was pretty fun.  Matt and the boys came to the starting line which made the race a thousand times better. 

It was "Goldie Locks weather day" with weather not too hot, and not too cold.  Weather aside, the terrain was pretty gnarly - around every turn were giant roots, logs to jump over, or mud pits to jump or wade through.  The technical trails made it that much more fun, though. 

I've been on a bad spree of being unprepared before races and this race was no different - at the starting line I put my headphones on and went to push play to rock my latest iPod mix ... only to find out that my iPod was dead.  Running this one with no sound was great, though, and I enjoyed it more than most races - which is shocking because I enjoy most races.  Instead of listening to the Avett Brothers mixed with Pearl Jam, I got birds singing, other runners heavy breathing, trees rustling, and bush noises that I hope weren't animals ready to sneak up.

This run I tried my Big Sur Marathon tactic again of positive mental reinforcement while running.  The mantra that's seeming to work is: "I feel good.  I'm doing good."  At one point I looked back and saw another woman (although I think she was doing the 5mi) and had a brief moment of panic knowing that I'm not good at kicking it into higher gear when people are passing me. Before drifting too far into self doubt, I introduced a new mantra: "My race.  My body.  I control this."  Seemed to work!