Morning is my favorite time of the day… especially early morning when the world is quiet and I can sit with a whole cup of coffee and just be. The only thing demanding my attention is my dog and all she wants is to be outside on the porch with me, laying and enjoying the quiet, too.
THIS morning, I’m being contemplative. I don’t have to be back at work for an ENTIRE week (my last week of last year’s vacation) so I can get some cleaning done around the house, maybe sneak off to the water park for a day, mostly just enjoy actually spending time with my family.
This morning I’m considering my adventure in yesterday’s Run and Ride at Cedar Point…
It was kind of rainy off and on most of the pre-race which made for a humid, mosquito infested kind of day… not my optimal “race” weather… but all in all, not really crappy. I hydrated very well for several days which helped. I felt really good (thanks to some prednisone taper that I was doing to hedge my bets and three alive that I took just in case). The race is strictly timed…. very strictly timed. I was signed up for the half, but if you didn’t make it to mile 4.8 (the 10k turn around) by 7:55 you got turned around and you finished the 10 k. Can you say MONEY… money… money… it was really, at that point, all about park revenue (which is funny considering most of the coasters didn’t run most of the day thanks to storms within a certain distance of the park).
So… even though I was feeling the best I’ve felt in a race in a long time, I was pushing the time (it was NOT quite 7:55 when I hit the turn around… ) the race guy turned me around and I finished the 10k. Ironically, I passed the pacer for the last coral on my way back to the finish line, so I know I was turned around a little soon… just saying… if she was BEHIND me… I should have been good.
BUT… I finished the 10k 6th in my division which shocked the crap out of me and I got my medal (BLING BLING) and I was at the finish line to hand my daughter HER medal. She finished in a personal best of 2:54 plus. I’m really really proud of her. Just think of what she could have done if she had trained!!! She threw up all of the water and Gatorade she drank on the course within 20 minutes of finishing… and she’s really feeling it this morning in her legs, but it was a marvelous race. AND I’m looking forward to the Santa Hustle in December (so I don’t have to push and I CAN finish the race… AND maybe… just maybe… since Brazil is over… I can actually train a little.
And here I am… wiling away the morning listening to the birds and the traffic, finishing my coffee and contemplating my day. I think it’s breakfast time…
Here is to wishing everyone a beautiful Monday, gentle and pain free.
Author: April Wells
Updated June15, 2015
A Figment Of Fitness 