When I race in the evening, it's a whole new ball game. Important life-or-death questions like what should I eat for lunch/afternoon snack? And do I feel fatigued because my body's fatigued or simply because I'm lying here on the couch wondering if I feel fatigued before the race?
So it's the waiting game.
I parked my car in the usual far-away-from-start-line spot and got to the racer's village with 75min to spare. 75min to pick up my registration number, use the loo, drop off my race bag at the bag drop since I sadly didn't have any awesome friends coming along this time, and go for a warm-up jog.
But then things de-simplified. I debated using the loo right when I got there as the line-up was relatively short) or waiting to closer to the race. As I've developed a definite cough (whhhyyyyyy????) and have been guzzling water, I opted for going closer to race start time.
Registration first, then! The line-up was long but it was smooth. I brought my photo id. Rejected! They didn't have my rego. So I pulled out my handy smart phone to show them the email, but the file was corrupt and I couldn't open it.
Dejected, I went to the "trouble table" and reluctantly signed up for a last minute number. No timing chip, but I'd get the t-shirt at least. Reluctantly (and a bit grumpy!) I agreed. I walked back to the loo line, which had grown exponentially since the last time I was there. I was a bit nervous about making it to the end on time, so I checked on my race briefing to see if there was a map pointing me in the direction of other (hopefully less popular) outhouses.
And behold! Inconspicuously inked onto the race briefing was my rego number! I decided it was worth it to go back, so I returned to the rego table and got my actual number. The reason it hadn't worked? My last name according to the rego was spelled "Thomson" instead of "Thompson".
And that got me thinking. After over 20 years of knowing how to spell my last name, did I actually get it wrong? Someone suggested a typo, but I've never done a typo on my name before!
This was not a good start. I dropped off my bag at the race tent keeping my water bottle safely in my hand for last-minute sippage. I figured if I ran out of time, I could leave it somewhere beside the course and chances were high it would still be there when I got back.
With 30min to spare, I thought that something of my pre-race routine might need to be cut. The question, what? Washroom break, or warm-up?
As if that's even a question! I've made the mistake of racing when I had to pee, and it is Not Fun.*
So I got into the loo line with 30min to spare. I began to stress. Loo + warm-up + start line positioning in 30min? Fingers crossed!
But a ray of hope came across the field in the form of my friend Jill. I run with Jill on Thursday mornings and we had planned to start the race together. She came over and asked to join me in the loo line. Jill's start time was only 15min away, as she was first doing the 1k kids dash with her son before rejoining the 10k start line 15min after that.
So we decided that Jill would "hold my place" in the loo line while I did a warm-up jog. Symbiotic relationship at its best! I rejoined the line 5min later and we were out of there with 1min to spare for Jill & son, 16min to spare for me. Off to the race start with a comfortable buffer of time. Phew!
At least my spelling skills - or lack thereof - completely wreck up my pre-race routine. But good thing I didn't leave the house any later!
*That is another story entirely!
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