Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal.

Mario Andretti

A rain delay is a weird thing to deal with in trail running.

Essentially, it means that the event is postponed entirely, and the new date might not be to your liking. Invariably, it’s almost always not.

So despite my gut telling me that the postponement of the Jabulani Challenge at the start of the month was 100% the right thing, it’s difficult not to feel a sense of disappointment that, after working up to the start of my season, it was delayed for a few more weeks until the Bottlebutt Bash 21k this last weekend.

And of course, the rescheduled Jabulani Challenge race doesn’t really play into my plans for the second half of the year – a lot to work through on that front.

But after all the spits and spurts, my season finally got underway today – with the aforementioned Bottlebutt Bash Trail Run 21k in Port Macquarie.

My goals going into the race were pretty simple – finish sub-3 hours, aim for an ITRA performance rating close to 400, set myself up for a solid training block for the Lakes 50k in July.

Almost all of those were acheived.

Firstly, I finished the race in 2:53:18, according to the watch. I’m still waiting to see the final results list. But to finish almost 7 minutes under my goal time was amazing.

Secondly, I think I’ve finished with an ITRA rating of around 380. If last year’s results are any guide, I would have needed to get around 2:45:00 for a rating above 400. To be within 20 points is a solid result, and a lot to build on.

My prep for this race hasn’t been the best. Discipline to get out there and just do the workouts over the last two weeks just hasn’t been there. If I had done the work, I have no doubt I would have got the time required. But all that is on me. I need to work out the solutions here and work on my ability to get out when I don’t want to. One would think it’d be easy, given I work at a gym, but it’s really not. Balancing work, training and home life is hard, and getting harder. But only I can provide the answers.

All in all, I’m super proud of today. I got the time I wanted, I’ve recognised where I need to improve, and I know what I need to go out and get. But most of all, what I’ve worked out is that my goals for the season are not just super achievable, they’re within reach.

It’s just up to me to go out and grab them.