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The 2021 Run Rabbit Run 100
Runners and buckles and bears, oh my
I’m late for the pre-race meeting for the 2021 Run Rabbit Run 100. This is my third go at this race and I’m not paying much attention; just scanning the crowd for friends and thinking about tomorrow. I do not have adequate training or rest or preparation of any kind. I’m here because I signed up almost two years ago to run the 2020 race, which was cancelled. I might have been in shape for that one. Now I’m just hoping experience and maybe sheer will power will get me to the finish line. Then the race director says something I spend the rest of the meeting wondering if I had heard correctly: people over a certain age could start an hour early. At the end I go up to seek confirmation: Really? I can start early and my finish would still be official?
Yes.
Really? Are you sure? Yes, says Fred, “it’s my race and if I say your finish counts, your finish counts.” If I want the extra hour, I should just show up at 7:00.
I agonize over the extra hour. Would that be lame? Is it cheating? Would an over-36-hour run really count as an official finish? But in the end I decide that I’m not in a position to be a purist about this. I need to give myself every possible chance of getting to the finish line, and this would simply give me a better shot at making it past the earlier cut-off times, like the…
