Well, we completed our first 3 races this Friday, Saturday and Sunday!! We did our Magical Miles 4 mile race on Friday to kick things off, then Saturday went right into our Happy Birthday to me for Kristie's birthday! The second race was 5 miles. Our 3rd race was the Extraterrestrial Abduction 10k.
I have to tell you I was getting a bit concerned about my ability to do the 10k. My legs were definitely feeling the other two races. As those of you who live locally know, it has been bitter cold and snowy here. I was forced to do these 3 virtual races on the treadmill. It turns out that is very mentally challenging!!
Kristie was in California but they were having so much rain on Saturday that she had to do the 5 mile race on the treadmill also. There is nothing like a treadmill race to work on your mental toughness!! I really wanted to quit out of sheer boredom several times!
I found that watching portions of Rocky movies really helped with the boredom and gave me some inspiration all at the same time. Of course we had to rewind and play some parts over and over to give me the proper amount of motivation. For Saturday's race I watched most of Rocky III (one of my favorites!), and for Sunday's race I watched portions of Rocky IV several times.
After Adrian shows up in Russia it starts to get real!! Watching Rocky and Drago train really helps to keep you going! In case you decide to use this movie for some treadmill motivation let me tell you that when they first start their fight and Rocky looks like he is going to lose, it is not a good motivating scene!! I just looked away for that and waited until he was making a comeback to watch. I was surprised how much watching them train and fight helped me push harder!!
Anywho...I made notes in my journal that Chris got me about each race. I answered each of the questions that I previously mentioned to you. I will see if I notice a pattern with any of the answers. I do know that I chose to eat something very sugary as soon as I finished today and my legs seemed to recover well. I actually feel good tonight.
We have Monday off from racing but then we race again Tuesday morning. Thank goodness it is only a 5k. Wednesday morning bright and early Chris and I leave for Italy!! I can't wait! I have been studying my Italian but honestly I do not think I have learned much!
So, I will leave you with some pictures of me with my medals on after each of the races. By the way, here are my times: 4 miler was 40:49; 5 miler was 53:03 and 10k was 66:03. They are nothing to brag about but I still felt like I did pretty good having to do them on the treadmill!!
Have a great week! I hope to check in before we leave for Italy but I can't make any promises! I think we will be a little crazy trying to make sure we have everything we need! We are taking only a backpack bag for 2 weeks so it takes some special planning!!