My husband’s cousin Erin came down to Red Deer, Alberta, from Edmonton this weekend to participate in the Super Spartan Race with us. She wasn’t registered for the event until early last week, but she knew for some time I was. Reason why she ended up signing up for it, in her words, was RACE ENVY!

If you have run lots of races, or just are getting into racing, you may have experienced Race Envy before. Race Envy is when you are jealous of someone else running in a race you haven’t been able to do yet. It may be a race you never even considered running before. It may be a distance you never have ran yet. The point is, someone you know is running in an event that you aren’t, and you want part of it.

Erin is a long distance trail runner who has participated in some crazy runs, like the Grizzly Ultra and Sinister 7. She also has run two full marathons, and qualified for Boston at the Red Deer Marathon by just getting under 3:35:00! I wrote about this in my race recap of the event, and you can read about it here: Red Deer Race Recap. She had never done a Spartan Race before, but heard all about mine and Dan’s experiences down in Montana in May and in Calgary last month. She got jealous and had to take part.

I’m glad she did get that hot case of Race Envy because having her run the 8 mile (13 km) with us really pushed me. I will write up about the race soon, once I have all the race photos, but her trail racing experience really helped kick it up a notch for Dan and I. And Erin had a great time too!

After the race, I started thinking more about her statement about having Race Envy. I thought back to everyone running the Disneyland Half Marathon last week and all the Dumbo Double Dare runners. I definitely had race envy then, because I realistically could have gone to run it if I had thought of it soon enough, as I wouldn’t have missed any school. I am already thinking of registering for it next year, as I am envious of the Coast to Coast medals. Since I am doing Dopey Challenge in January, if I want one of those prized Coast to Coast medals then 2014 is my year.

Last night we hung out with my brother in law and sister in law. She also did the Spartan Race that day and we started talking about doing a Spartan Beast next year, which is 20km or more. Then we started talking about making sure to do a Sprint, Super AND Beast in 2014, so we can earn the Trifecta medal. And then, maybe because I was about 7 beers into the evening, I started conjuring in my head if I could possibly get to Sun Peaks, British Columbia, on September 28th to do the Beast there and get my Trifecta medal this year. This Race Envy is also a mix of Bling Envy, and those two combinations are deadly.

I’m sure I will have a case of Race Envy again myself, and I am positive Erin will too. Us runners are always wanting to try something new and different, earn a sweet medal, run a race no one else we know has tried, or even be the first of our core group to complete something. Have you ever had a case of Race Envy, or are you recovering from Race Envy?