Tonight, I learned A LOT about what NOT to do before a big race.
1. DO NOT participate in a silly obstacle course, even if you "take it easy", the day before a big race. Even if you had a blast with your office team. Your shoes will be soaked, your legs will be tired, and you'll feel burnt out even before you get to the next day's race.
2. DO NOT ignore the packet pick-up and/or start times when you consider the race. If you don't like waking up at 4:30am, don't sign up for a race you need to get to by 6 that happens to be 40+ minutes away.
3. DO NOT take one of those horribly unsatisfying afternoon naps - you know, that awful couple hours when it's too hot and humid to really sleep properly, so you just toss and turn, drifting in and out of sleep without getting any real benefit. The stress isn't worth the lack of actual rest.
4. DO NOT invite friends over for a game night unless you're confident you'll be done at a reasonable hour. Yes, that stunning Catan victory is awesome, but in the long run (get it, long run?!) you have to decide if the late night and high stress levels are worth it.
5. DO NOT expect much sympathy from the non-runners around you. I mean, really, it IS my own fault. I totally could have considered any of the previous points and avoided this entire bucketful of stress tonight...
Well, what's done is done. Time now to pack the bag as best I can, hop in bed, and HOPE.
Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.
You can check out my race progress/results in the Fort2Base 10NM run by looking for my bib, #1352.
(I'm glad it sounds like you had a great time despite all this! I just really wanted to comment to congratulate you on the Settlers victory. Those feel so great! :P )
ReplyDeleteHaha yes, the race went surprisingly well despite my fretting! And the Settlers win was very satisfying - I have a nasty reputation for being a cut-throat gamer, so I usually get teamed-up on and trade embargoed; this was the first round of Settlers I've won in a while!
Delete