The Little Things
May 3, 2013

Here we are again, the day before race day. Race week preparations have gone really well except for one tiny little detail. On Wednesday night I was sitting on my couch and all at once I started to sneeze and my nose started to run. Uh oh…. I checked online and, yup, “very high pollen alert”. NO NO NO- not allergies!! So all day Thursday I spent the day sneezing, couching, and blowing my nose every few minutes. I’m not sure how it’ll go on Saturday morning as I’m sucking in air while running for over two hours, but I really hope that I can breathe! That combined with the forecasted rain (which I’ve never raced in before) might make for a really interesting race.

My goals for the race are not too defined. I want to have fun and enjoy the race most of all. Ideally I’d like to beat my Monumental Half Marathon time of 2:31, but with the speedway and allergies I’m not sure that it will happen. I for sure want to beat my Mini Marathon time last year of 2:53.

The hardest thing last year for me was the speedway. It hurts, it’s long, and that cement is HARD. Mentally that’s been one of the biggest parts of my training. On my long runs I’ve been running the course in my head, and when I hit the mile where I’ll be running onto the Speedway I started to do positive self talk and focus on how I know the track feels. I hope that this will help me feel more prepared for it than last year, but I know that it will still be really hard… you know, unless they’ve repaved it with softer cement!

I’ll be seeing you soon, Speedway, and this time, I’m going to win…

Indianapolis-Motor-Speedwaysource

Before the Monumental Half in November, I shared some thoughts that go on inside a runner’s head, and some of them are definitely playing out again now. I think I’ve come to realize that maybe I won’t ever go into a race day feeling great. My first half I was coming off a shin splint injury, my first triathlon I had just buried one of my good friends, my second half marathon I had hardly ran the month leading up to the race because of an IT band injury, and this time my IT band is still feeling tight and these allergies have come out full force. Maybe that’s just how it goes. But each one of them has still been a really great memory, and the injuries and difficulties aren’t what stand out when I think back to it.

I get one shot at a third half marathon, and I want to make it great. And now, to end this post the way I did my last post before my first half marathon:

the voice inside my head is a liarsource

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you have any “night before” rituals before a race? What lies does the voice in your head say? 

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2 responses to “The Day Before Race Day…”

  1. Mileage Mama says:
    May 3, 2013 at 8:01 am

    Let’s see, pre-race activities … Compulsively checking weather forecast? Check. Confirming and reconfirming all travel arrangements? Check. Cramming every last piece of running clothing I own into a suitcase, “just in case”? Check. Worrying about every little ache and pain? Check. I think that about sums it up!

  2. Amber @ Busy, Bold, Blessed says:
    May 4, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    Hope your race went well 😀