If you take a look at my blog activity over the past three weeks, you'll see a sudden explosion of productivity. Part of that, I'll have to admit, is that my kind hubby decided to surprise me with a keyboard for my tablet, thus allowing me to type more comfortably and easily than if I were simply typing on my tablet itself (darned autocorrect!). The other reason is tat when I realized that I had found a spot in the Halifax Hypothermic Half Marathon, I suddenly had a countdown till race day. At that point, I vowed that I would post once a day between then (T-minus 25 days till race day) and race day on February 10, 2013.
But the last few days have been a stellar example of the fact that sometimes life just gets in the way of even the best laid plans.
Last week, I did my utmost to try and get back onto the training schedule even though the past few weeks before that had been scuttled by extreme cold, icy streets and work travel. But then on Friday night I discovered that I would have to travel to Toronto for work purposes this week.
On Wednesday when I packed my bags, I made sure to include my running gear, knowing that I'd be out of town for a few days but also that I'd want to get in as many training runs as I could since we are so close to race day. In fact, my running gear made up for more than half of my clothes, when all was said and done, to allow for running in all weather conditions, whether inside or out.
Nevertheless, I didn't get a run in on Wednesday. I arrived in Toronto at 9:30 pm, tired and just wanting to crawl into bed. The following day was a day of meetings, and I had dinner plans with a friend, but I did manage a 30-minute run on the treadmill. And yesterday I made it to the gym for yoga at lunch-time. I'm still away from home for the next couple of days, but I'm going to try to squeeze in a couple of runs and workouts.
In reality, at this point we're so close to race day that nothing I do now will really affect the outcome, physically. And whether it's work, injury or illness, sometimes life does get in the way.
Now, more than ever, I'm focused on just getting out there next week and having a good time with my friends. I'll plan to enjoy the race and treat it as a training run. Heck, who knows - maybe I'll throw caution to the winds and even run without my Garmin, like the good 'ol days!
The point, I suppose, is to plan ahead and be flexible. All of this makes me appreciate how driven and focused elite athletes must be, who are so committed to their goal that they don't let other things get in their way.
And I'm nowhere near an elite athlete. I'm just a runner girl who likes to get out there for the fun of it. And that's an important lesson to remember!
- HRG
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