On Flirting with Dirt

“Let go of winning and losing and find joy.”

Last weekend I competed in the Flirt with Dirt 5K.  I was one of about 200 competitors that Saturday morning. Another 400 were there to run the 10K. 

I always get emotional at races, especially running races. To me, it’s a beautiful thing to see people all assembled, and to think of all of the different paths they’ve taken to make it to the point where they’re racing.  Personally, I use races to see what I can do when I give it my all and what I should work on with my training. As I walked around prior to the race, I met people who had never run a race. I overheard a Father tell his daughter about how all that mattered was that she did her best. I saw old people and young people. Thin people and those of generous proportions.  All about to run the same race, yet all about to run hundreds of different races.

Over the years, I have participated in many different races, but what made this one special was that the competitors, by and large, seemed to be in it for the joy of the sport.

That is not to say there weren’t serious athletes. In fact, there were some great performances. In particular, there was a woman who won the 5K (beating all of the 200+ 5k runners, regardless of gender) and then 15 minutes later, participated in the 10K and got second place.

What was different was the tone. Usually at a race you have the people who are in it to win (or think they can) crowing each other at the front, jockeying for the best position. At this race, participants were reluctant to step up to the line. Eventually a handful of people (all of who did end up finishing at the top) filtered through the crowd to the front.

On the trail, athletes were polite, alerting you if they were about to pass (and those being passed would move out of the way). Someone fell at one point and another competitor (these were both people near the front of the pack) stopped to ask if the person was ok.

The end of the race was perhaps most different. There weren’t medals, but shoes for the overall top finishers and coffee mugs for the age groupers and all of the children who ran, regardless of placement. It was all pretty low key, with people not really being into who won. It was more about people who enjoy running just hanging out.

Looking back, I can see how the title of the event was more than just good alliteration. It set the tone that we were not to take any of it too seriously, and we didn’t.