Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Pre-race anxiety, Colfax Marathon

This weekend I’m racing my second marathon. While I’ve race 2 Ironman races, I don’t count these as a marathon. I’m hoping for a good race. Hope.

I can’t sleep tonight, and I am thinking about Ironman blogs I’ve read about racers who, even after years of experience, arrived at a race thinking they might not finish. I remember reading on their blogs and websites how prepared they thought they were, yet and still thinking, perhaps, they might not finish. “Stranger things have happened” I remember reading.

I think that is how we all approach this endurance training and racing life: Stranger things have happened.

We do the training, and it never seems enough.

We forget the hard training days because they melt into the distance past of fond memories.

Yes, stranger things have happened. I think of the DNS (Did not show), the DNF (did not finish), the PRs, the “best days of my life”, and all the race day anxiety. I’m just a middle-of-the-pack racer, just trying to get faster.

Who knows what will happen on Sunday, Colfax Marathon Day. Maybe I’ll finish in my projected time of 4 hours, which will be a PR. Maybe I’ll be slower. All I want to do is show up, run my race, and have an amazing lunch with friends in Denver after the race.