Tying my shoes

And other lessons from OCRWC 2021.

Sometimes it’s the little things that can unravel your race. At OCRWC it was my shoe laces.

Funny story, I lost my shoe in the mud at OCRWC on day one. #rookiemistakes. It was the women’s 3k elite championship. Yes, that actually happened. I was having a great race, trying to close the gap on wave one that started a few minutes ahead. I came out of the obstacle cluster at the top of the hill poised to strike terror into my competitors as I unleashed on the downhill, hot on the heels of Tiffany Palmer (I think). And instead of terror I unleashed…my foot…and lost my shoe. Right in a bottomless pit of mud. I turned around to look for my shoe but I was already several strides down the hill and couldn’t see anything in the mud. Kelly Sullivan passed me (trying to figure out WTF I was doing with my hands in the mud!) and I gave up the search in favor of pursuing Kelly down the mountain. Which was more like tiptoeing gingerly down the hill as the other competitors sailed past me! Losing my shoe mid- race is literally my nightmare! I dreamt about that more than once leading up to other big races. (Anybody else get pre-race anxiety??) In those midnight hours pondering hypothetical worst-case scenarios, I always knew I should continue on at full effort without my shoes. I didn’t come this far only to come this far. So when the circumstance arose in a real race I never questioned whether I would continue. I already knew. The debate was then whether to stop and look for my shoe. I decided taking a few seconds to look for it would probably cost me less time than running a rocky downhill without it. But it was a moot point when I realized that sucker was gone for good. What a mishap! I limped my way to a 13th place finish in the 3k, but I doubt I’ll ever have another nightmare about losing my shoe in a race. It’s funny to think how concerned I was about that in my dreams and how cool and collected I was when it actually happened. I learned that you don’t actually need shoes for obstacles. And I also learned not to underestimate the important skill of tying your shoes properly! I look back on this story and laugh. I guess preparation is paramount whether it’s visualizing how you will respond in a worst-case scenario or double-knotting your shoes on the start line.