Entering Races With One Eye Closed
I don't know about you, but when I'm considering entering a new race, especially if it's a trail race, one of the first things I do besides look at the price is to look at the results. I basically gauge from the results if it's a really hard course and if there typically are many competitors around my age.
Back before the Internet, most of us entered races blindly - having no idea of the field or the course unless it was printed on the race flier. You went with word of mouth but had to consider the source. You would pick up or be mailed a race flier and look for code words - like "rolling course" meant there were a lot of hills and "net negative elevation" meant the course was far from flat and you like wouldn't feel the "net" as much as the "elevation" (Hello, Charlottesville 10-Miler!). A trail run in or anywhere near a mountain range was going to be super hard and maybe single track with a lot of technical elements.
Now, of course, we not only know all we need about a race from Web sites and reviews, but we also can size up the competition by doing searches for specific runners on Athlinks, DailyMile and other sites.
This is especially true of truly competitive runners, some of whom are showcased in a Wired story about how the Internet has influenced Olympic runners representing the United States. I think we all agree that access to more information is definitely helped us all. Still, there are times I think I get too worked up because of all I now know. Some of which may not actually square with reality. And I pity race directors who have a bad day because runners are pretty vocal when they feel they didn't get their money's worth.
That said, try as I might, I'm still going to do an exhaustive search each time I want to enter a race. Maybe you too.
Back before the Internet, most of us entered races blindly - having no idea of the field or the course unless it was printed on the race flier. You went with word of mouth but had to consider the source. You would pick up or be mailed a race flier and look for code words - like "rolling course" meant there were a lot of hills and "net negative elevation" meant the course was far from flat and you like wouldn't feel the "net" as much as the "elevation" (Hello, Charlottesville 10-Miler!). A trail run in or anywhere near a mountain range was going to be super hard and maybe single track with a lot of technical elements.
Now, of course, we not only know all we need about a race from Web sites and reviews, but we also can size up the competition by doing searches for specific runners on Athlinks, DailyMile and other sites.
This is especially true of truly competitive runners, some of whom are showcased in a Wired story about how the Internet has influenced Olympic runners representing the United States. I think we all agree that access to more information is definitely helped us all. Still, there are times I think I get too worked up because of all I now know. Some of which may not actually square with reality. And I pity race directors who have a bad day because runners are pretty vocal when they feel they didn't get their money's worth.
That said, try as I might, I'm still going to do an exhaustive search each time I want to enter a race. Maybe you too.
