The Race May Be The Catalyst

Catalyst - "A person or thing that precipitates an event" More and more as I travel to run a race I find that the race is just the reason to go but once there, or even on the way there or back, there can be so much to see and do. Things to see and do that I might not have been aware of if the race didn't motivate me to research the area where I was going. This is as true for a race as close as the next town down or up the Valley as it is a trip for a race to another state requiring a long multi-day drive or a flight. There is so much to see and do in this country and racing has motivated me to do a lot of it.

As the title says, "The race may be the catalyst". There are so many other things than can be, visiting family, visiting friends, or simply a destination vacation where a race can be a part of the whole experience. In my case the race very often is the catalyst. A recent example of this just occurred this past weekend. I ran two races. On Saturday I raced and subsequently visited a local town for the first time and on Sunday I went to San Rafael to run a race and complete the "I Run the Bay" series. Because San Rafael is good distance from here and you never know what kind of traffic issues you might encounter I always leave early enough to allow a buffer. Sunday was an unusual day on the freeways for sure, there was no traffic and I had a quick and uneventful trip. I parked, picked up my shirt and race number and then had an extra hour to look around. I warmed up a lot more than I normally would simply because I wanted to jog around the downtown area as well as the outskirts of downtown. Additionally I was able to explore the course more than I might have otherwise and as a result I wasn't discouraged when I encountered hills that I had not anticipated. I have included some pictures from this exploration in this post.

The first two pictures are from the local race in Escalon.

 These next pictures are from San Rafael. It was a nice cool morning but humidity was over 90%.

While the race is often the catalyst for me I hope that you find your own catalyst to lead you on many journeys to enrich your life. Life really is an adventure and we can make sure that it is an adventure that keeps going. Enjoy your travels no matter what the catalyst.