Preparation

My brain is always going a mile a minute the week before a race, planning all the things I have to pack, buy, and do. I have checklist after checklist, that I typically rewrite several times, and scrutinise it over and over again until I drive myself crazy. Mostly this is to stop me overthinking the race itself and psyching myself out. I come up with all kinds of pseudo-injuries, and imaginary scenarios where things go horribly wrong. Hence the lists:

• Run clothing
• Casual clothing
• Gear/Miscellaneous (arnica, foam roller etc)
• Food
• Strategy (Drop bags, pack refills)
• To-do (Car oil, food prep)
• Out of town errands/shopping
• Ouchies (for some reason listing all the things that might hurt makes it easier to deal with)

I also get very upset when I don't have complete control of things (this isn't limited to running and racing, and I work very hard to not be the crazy control freak, just like I try not to be upset if I don't have the same spot in the gym or my three enchiladas are uneven on my plate, or my car stereo isn't on an even number and okay I'm a little crazy, and this is why I run). We're going to be leaving later than planned on Friday, and while we still have a couple of stops we need to make, it's not really a big deal, but I know that until we are at least half way there I won't settle down. 

For some reason, I don't feel the same need to micromanage every detail when it comes to endurance. Perhaps because less than half my rides have been on my own horse, and I have no trailer so traveling is mostly out of my control, and I have plenty of people directly involved that I can ask questions. When you ride someone else's horse, it is up to them how you ride, what gear you use, what you feed, how you secure the horse, what your goals are. Even to a certain extent with Fuega, she had a good say in what we did. She was such a strong-willed mare that I had to find the balance between riding my ride and being conservative, versus not holding her back and fighting her so much that she burned up her energy and was miserable and not co-operative. In endurance there are so many more variables just because you have another living breathing being as part of your team, you have to be more flexible.

Running on the bluffs Sunday morning with the FogDogers

I'm not quite sure where I was going with this, other than I needed to make some empty space in my head so I can go and be focused at work. I'm patiently (ha!) waiting on FedEx to deliver my package with the 'kevlar bra' so I can test run it this afternoon. Of course four miles isn't going to tell me whether it will work for 62 miles, but I can at least check fit. While I would never recommend trying something new on race day, in this instance I know that the bras I have will chafe, so even if the new one chafes I'm not in a worse position, and maybe it won't. Boobs are not great for trying to make myself an ultrarunner...