A month after completing The Divide 200, I finally finished writing about my experience, and so I allowed myself to read other blogs written by fellow runners who had also taken part in the race. I'd avoided looking at others as I didn't want their thoughts and experiences influencing what I wrote - I wanted to remember things from my own first hand experience, and I didn't want to compare things to anybody else, especially when I hadn't fully digested what I had achieved in those four or so days out on The Great Divide trail.
I really enjoyed reading other people's blogs and I was fascinated to hear about how their races had gone, but the more I read, the more something became more noticeable to me - my race sounded so boring when compared to others! My race had no drama, no real mind games, no thoughts of quitting or doubting my ability, I didn't have any "dirt naps" at the side of the trail in the middle of nowhere, where I was too tired to carry on - even my hallucinations of boats and RVs were bland and boring compared to some of the others storied I had heard or read about.
This really got me thinking and perhaps over analysing my own race - did I run the race too cautiously, or did I have such a strong and robust race plan and strategy, that everything just fell in to place at the right place and the right time? It was likely a combination of the two, but it has led me to wonder whether I could have finished in a much faster time had I gone into the race chasing a time rather than just chasing a finish. In hindsight, I do think that I am capable of finishing in around 78 hours, a good 6+ hours faster, which is quite a considerable amount of time.
When thinking this, it is of course important to remember that we were very lucky with the weather back in September. Yes it got quite warm during the day which affected some people, and it got quite chilly overnight, but we had no extreme weather to contend with - some of those trails would far more difficult to negotiate had we been faced with heavy rain or storms, high winds, or even ice and snow. There's also the consideration about air quality - what if smoke had affected the race, not enough to stop the event, but enough to have some impact on some of the runners? So many variables could dramatically change the race result we all had, but if - and it's a might big if - if conditions were the same, could I realistically run The Divide 200 in sub 80 hours?
The trouble is that I don't really know where I could claw back that time as I was already quite efficient the aid stations, and was disciplined when it came to eating and sleeping at the crew areas. My base speed is also unlikely to improve, and if it did, it would be minimal and likely not have any real impact in a race of this distance. I was also probably at my fittest at the time of the race, and I would consider my preparation for the race being spot on. I really don't know what I could have done any differently.
Which brings me to question whether I could run faster, and if so, how? I know I could shave some time off at the crew aid stations - I likely spent a good 2 to 2 and a half hours at these aid stations and I think I could shave some time off there without any detriment to sleeping or refuelling.
There were three occasions during the race where I went off course and had to retrace my steps. This would likely save me around 20 minutes as I now know the course and hopefully wouldn't make those same mistakes again.
The only other areas where improvements can be made would be in training. I would need to do more hill work and more strength work so I could climb those hills much more quickly. I actually didn't do too bad all things considered, but just gaining a few minutes on those climbs would make a huge difference. I also did a lot of walking, even on the flatter sections and even though my walking pace was faster than some folks could run, I could certainly improve and walk far less than I did.
This is all food for thought and I certainly have no idea whether changing things would have helped or hindered my final result - after all, I was bloody chuffed with my finish and everything went perfectly for me on the day.
But I am a curious runner, and I'm always curious to know what if ...? Of course I've put my name into the hat for the lottery again for next year, and this time I have three tickets. I'll be really happy to have my name drawn again although now I have something to compare things to, I might feel a little more pressure on myself. Going into the unknown this year felt exciting as I really couldn't fail with something I had never done before. Next time though I've set a benchmark, and that's scary. Yet at the same time, I'm excited to see if I can improve and how.
But whilst I would love my name to be drawn and would love the opportunity to go back and do it all again, I'm also happy for others to experience the event themselves whilst I find other goals to pursue next year. I guess I will know on December 1st :)
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