race day rituals

I have a love/hate relationship with race day. Obviously, I must love doing races because I pay good money to go and run or swim/bike/run crazy distances (well, crazy to some, sane to others) I started running marathons back in 1996 and since then have done 13 marathons, even more half marathons and countless 10Ks. Then, a couple of years ago I decided I should add triathlons into the mix. I've done far fewer of those, but one thing remains the same--how I feel about race day.

I've learned it doesn't matter if I've trained long and hard or not at all, I have this strange love/hate obsession with race morning. And, if I'm being honest, this anxiety and stress begins the night before race morning. I've got my pre-race rituals and my race day rituals. Any one who has witnessed this can attest to the insanity that ensues! Worst it ever was: Boston Marathon 2006. I seriously took an entire duffel bag full of running clothes and shoes (remember the days when you didn't have to pay for your checked baggage!) I wasn't sure what I would want to wear on race day and needed (wanted?) to be prepared. The night before the race I spent a good 30 minutes running up and down the hallway in our hotel trying to decide which shoes I wanted to wear. I then spent another 30 minutes laying out my clothes, organizing my nutrition, pinning my race number on my jersey and stressing out over whether or not I'd selected the right attire. At the very least I provided some great entertainment for my sisters.

Over my years of racing experience, I've learned I have to be a bit flexible about my pre-race rituals. And, along the way I've learned to have a bit of fun. Yes, I still get stressed and nervous before every race (who know what that's all about!?! It's not like there's cash or fame on the line; I'm certainly not a professional racer) However, I've learned that sometimes racing can just be fun.

I ran the Salt Lake half marathon over the weekend. (a race I always swear I'm never going to run again, but that's a different story for a different time) I headed up to Salt Lake on Friday night to hang with my dear friend @runnerrhielle (she's also starting a trail run series in Park City that you should totally check out). I must say, my entire pre-race and morning of race rituals were thrown off and it made for a great event!

Friday night, Rhielle, Ashley (her husband) and I all headed to dinner - and ended up eating Indian food. Delicious stuff, but definitely not what I would normally eat the night before a race. She graciously offered to let me stay at her house so I wouldn't have to make the trek to SLC from Utah County early Saturday morning. We stayed up much later than I anticipated watching shows I don't even care about (sorry all you Survivor fans!)

Saturday morning we had to get up bright and early. Now, for those that know me, you're aware that I am known to wake up as early as 4:30 to get in a morning workout. For some reason, 5am on race day seems far earlier than a 4:30am training wake-up call. And, because Rhielle is a pre-race/pre-workout eater, I decided I should eat a little something before heading to the race (half a banana and toast w/ honey--if you were wondering) And then, it was time to hit the road and this is when things became far more fun than any other race morning. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I had food in my tummy, the early hour or that I was with a good friend, but I just couldn't help myself.

As you know, I've recently become a twitter junkie. Maybe it was the nerves, maybe it was my continual plotting of an exit strategy from the race, maybe it was the fact that I had my phone along for no logical reason (unless I was considering actually live tweeting the entire race) or maybe it's just because everything about race morning is conveniently 140 characters long. Regardless of the reason, I just couldn't stop myself. Everything I declared, I would then loudly proclaim "TWEET!" (you know, as if I were actually sending out all these expressions via Twitter)

"I don't see any 26.2 stickers. What's up with my peeps" TWEET
"Seriously, you're going to make me walk how far to catch Trax to the start?" TWEET
"I just spotted my favorite thing - people wearing the race shirt to the race!" TWEET
"You know how I feel about LOLing" TWEET
"I honestly hate this race. Why do I continue to run it every year?!?" TWEET

"You'd think they could figure out the whole 'bag drop' thing. I know I could do a better job" TWEET

OK, looking over it things definitely aren't as funny in the light of day as they were in the early hours of Saturday morning. However, I have great memories of those predawn, pre-race hours with Rhielle. Our antics only continued for the first half of the race; she went on to run her faster pace and left me to continue to TWEET on my own (OK, it was only in my head, but it did help me make it to the finish line.) And being the dear friend that she is, she was waiting for me right as I crossed the finish line. It was great seeing her soon after finishing (I needed someone to celebrate my small victory with!) I definitely think we need to make this race (the dinner before, the sleep over and the pre-race rituals) an annual tradition. Just next year, I think we can skip the Kneader's breakfast so soon after the race!