Saturday, December 6, 2014

How Storm Chasers conquer pre-race jitters...

Today my nerves were in overdrive. I came close to crying twice. Although I know there is nothing logical about the amount of pressure I put on myself (as a non-elite athlete that's running for fun), I do it anyway. It has a lot to do with the fact that running doesn't come naturally for me and I really have tried hard to get better and faster since I started. The "voice of reason" inside my head constantly reminds me that my running career is a year and a half old so I'm a "toddler" runner (in other words I need to just RELAX). But the rest of me is not easily convinced.

I loved the Milepost quote this morning! It was just what I needed...

After getting Kaiyu settled and hanging out with my friend Giselle for a bit, I headed up to Palm Beach. This will be my home away from home for today and 1/2 of tomorrow...

I got checked in and decided on the race attire for tomorrow (I packed a suitcase filled with stuff so I would have options... a sure sign that I'm nervous is that I'm worried about what I'm going to wear). The "winning" outfit...

Once Diane came we headed to pick up my packet...

And we walked around the pre-race expo...

Then we went for vegan smoothies at Bee Organics...

I had a "Paradise" smoothie with anti-inflammatory properties...
(I doesn't look like "paradise", but it tasted ok)

After smoothies Diane and I drove 90% of the course for tomorrow. There is a small section through a neighborhood that might be a bit confusing, but if there are enough signs it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Otherwise the majority of the course is quite scenic and beautiful. I'm really looking forward to the route. 

After the "route review" we went to the Palm Beach outlet mall. I'm not a fan of shopping but it was a good distraction until it was time to eat again. Most of my running group was meeting up at 6pm for a pasta dinner, but that's kind of late for me to eat (especially pasta) so dinner was Pei Wei (I had pad thai) and then I got my pre-race breakfast for tomorrow (a plain bagel) from Starbucks. 

I'm spending the rest of the evening icing my knee and hip, relaxing and hydrating...

I'm hoping for a great race for everyone tomorrow, especially all of the Memorial Milers! 
Good Luck!

2 comments:

Thanks for your comment!