Winging it: Week 4

This week may be the week I start triathalon training.  We have two weeks of every single day predicted rain.  We have baseball, we have track, and we have running and racing to do, but it may all be postponed.  At least the gym won't flood, but the roads to it might!!!!

ended up with a 168 max!

Monday:  Cross fit day.  Today was the day for maxes and I was super pumped and super nervous.  I decided instead of rushing and doing the WOD, I would just take my time and work towards my max.  Once I hit 168, my form looked crappy and even though I got it up and didn't have to go to failure, the form said it all.  I felt so powerful and excited!  Can't wait to de-load and then start this cycle with my new max!  Baseball games were canceled for the night thanks to storm and rain.

Tuesday: Storms!  The theme for this week and next is going to be when to run to avoid storms.  We had maybe a brief hour of nothing, and while I thought I could get out and run, the wind picked up and we had 50 mph wind gusts.  No thank you. I can battle a lot of things but that is not one of them.

Last day of school lunch

Wednesday:  Sunshine!  I knew we were suppose to get better weather, so I had plans on doing some sort of run.  Got Boom's mile in first and then got the other dogs for three-four.  My dang watch died again and I swear my dogs had poopitis.  Since our normal running route is under water, we had to stick to the pavement.  I think the dogs sensed this and decided to poop multiple times meaning I had to bag and carry to a can and reload on bags.   I am not kidding when I say that these dogs were full of poop.  Boom pooped twice on his way to deliver Andrew to school and then once on his mile.  Stella pooped once and Deuce pooped twice.  SERIOUSLY DOGS????

a field that has a concession stand?  YES!

Sunshine also meant we got a ball game in.  We figured it would be canceled due to field conditions but we were lucky in that it stayed warm and dry all day.  We headed to St. George, the town I lived in for years when I was in grad school, to play at their new field.  We saw some huge improvements in fielding and some batting, but mostly our bats were quiet and we lost 2-0. The boys all tried and I am happy with the fact that we got our very first out!

Last day in Mrs. Martin's class

Thursday:  I wanted to get a little mileage in either Thursday or Friday before the race.  Just a little 3 miler to make sure the legs were good and warmed up.  The only down side, I had andrew all day since his summer stuff doesn't start till next week, so I needed to get up super early to get everything done.  Did that happen?  Nope.  I need to get back into my routine of getting up at 4 am, but I just couldn't leave my bed. I also got a message later in the day that open gym was off for the day so I couldn't get my deadlifts in.  Boo.  I have joined our local gym but I have heard nothing about my request for bumper plates or a women's bar.  Super boo.

We had batting practice post work and while I probably could have run while the kiddos were batting, I enjoyed watching them bat and learn, and talked to their parents.  We didn't get home till 8 and I was bound and determined we were going to have a home cooked meal and we did.  Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole from Mom's Life Meals that was delicious!  I am not a huge fan of broccoli but I ate it and really enjoyed it.  Who am I lately?

Friday: Rest or run?  I chose to rest and just run Saturday and Sunday.

love that downhill, hate that humidity.  90% at the start!

Saturday:  4 am wake up call to be on the road to the Bill Snyder Half marathon in Manhattan.  I was pacing the 2:30 group and I was super excited to be pacing a faster group for a race that has some serious downhill.  Unfortunately when I woke up we had 90% humidity, which was my biggest fear.  I have NOT acclimated to any of the heat or humidity yet and this was a sucker punch.  This is also a point to point race, so we had to get on buses to head out to the start and our leader wanted us on the buses by 5:45 am.

Thanks to Jennifer for this picture!

These are just a few of the pacers.  I LOVE working with these ladies!  We started out nice and slow and did some K S U chants at the first few mile markers.  Then the heat and humidity really started to affect everyone.  We lost most people around mile 8.  Some had pushed out already to go get some faster times and that makes me SO happy.  I had three or four ladies that were trying to hold on to a 2:30ish finish and the weather just got them.  I hate that, but we had discussed that this should be  B goal race due to the conditions and the main goal of the day was to stay safe.  I had my handheld full of watermelon Nuun and was still dumping water on my head at every aid station.  There was a little breeze and I was able to get some cooling effect even though it was super humid.  I was encouraging all of my runners to do the same.

Thanks to Paula for this picture!  I'm the one in the back holding up my pacer stick

Finishing on the field was pretty darn awesome!  I need a GoPro!  Watching my video will make you seasick, but here it is anyway :)  I will say, no offense KSU but being on the field at the UT Knoxville game was way cooler and maybe if the stands had been full of screaming fans it would have be super duper cool too.  Running on the turf was weird and I can't imagine playing on that.  I can remember having issues marching on it in high school too when we marched at Vanderbuilt's stadium.

How cool are these medals?  This is my third year of doing this race out of the 5 years they have had it and it gets better every year!  I love know what's coming to prepare my runners better.  While I think this course would be super fun to try and PR some day, for now I think I will stick to pacing and sharing the beauty of the flint hills with others.    

Sunday:  Recovery miles.   I knew I wanted to get out and do something mileage wise, but I wasn't sure what.  I knew one thing, I wanted to get lots of rest and not get up early. I have my 50 mile training starting next week possibly and I wanted to be well rested going in.  I found another plan that I kind of like better than the plan I was going with.  The problem?  I would need 24 weeks to train instead of 18, BUT this plan has cut back weeks instead of just a steady build and i kind of like that. 

the bridge going out of town heading south towards I-70

Took boom out for a mile and then grabbed Deuce for another 2.  We took it super duper easy and stopped for many pictures.  The Kansas River is SUPER high in Wamego right now and with the planned water releases happening soon at Tuttle creek, we are going to probably see some flooding.  The good news, it floods south of the town which is mainly ag land, but the bad news is it floods at all.  My knee also started hurting about 2 miles in.  I felt it twinge the day before when I ran out onto the field.  I figured it was just the change in underfoot, but this was pretty ouchy for several steps before fading into a dull roar.  WTH body????  Why now?  I have been being so careful.  I have a day off tomorrow and will probably skip Cross fit and rest it and re evaluate. I think my first run on my new plan is 6 miles and I sure don't want to start out this training cycle already fighting an injury.  I also am going to try running 5 days a week and this will be new and different for my body so this may add a huge wrinkle to my plan.  

Totos around town with a dog that won't look at the camera

Have a great week!  Hope you are high and dry where you are and not battling rain, rain and more rain!

Winging it Week 3: Recovery

I have a down week before another racing week, and I am going to need it!  Bring on the craziness that is May!!!!!

Monday:  Cross fit.  Got to class and only two others showed up, both being our heavy lifting guys.  I seriously could just watch them lift and not do it myself LOL!  We did our usual series of back squats, just in a little ladder form that was kind of fun.  I like it when they mix up the series, so that it isn't the same old same old every time with certain percentages and reps.  This one we did a percentage for 5 reps, one for 3, and one for 1, and then moved up the percentages and started over again.  Coach thinks i need to rethink my max of 125 lbs, but I am not so sure I am ready mentally!

Post work, we had our very first baseball game!  While we lost 5-1, we had so much fun, and the kiddos did great for their very first big boy baseball game post T-ball.  Andrew got 1 hit and one which was nice contact as well, but he was thrown out at first.  He also advanced the runner with his contact and hit in another kid for an RBI on his double.  He played "pitcher" and I have that in quotes because technically the machine threw the ball, but he played to the side of the machine and got tons and tons of balls hit to him.  He had several kids advance on his throwing errors because of his throws to first, but at this point we don't care, we just want them throwing to first where the play usually is at instead of like T ball where the play was always to throw to the infield or pitcher.


Tuesday:  Rest day.  Y'all I was SO sore from Cross fit the day before that i barely could move.  With my calf muscle still pretty sore, I figured waiting a few days to run wouldn't be the end of the world.  I have one more half marathon to pace, but again I am sure i can do it with minimal running.  I need to be 100% and that is the most important. I did run 2 laps with the kiddos at track club, but that was it as we finished the night working on long jump.

Wednesday:  Rest day.  Baseball night.  For the next two months, baseball will rule Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday nights.  We have games twice a week, batting practice at the cages one night a week, and fielding practice on Sundays.  If our kiddos could hit the balls on the machine, we could combine batting and fielding, but that just isn't happening, YET.  Our Coleman Electric Royals actually got the win 2-0!  Andrew caught for 3 innings and did pretty good.  I was a nervous wreck as he is learning how to catch safely, and also did I mention that ball is coming at him at 40 mph?  Most of the balls just went screaming past him and hit the back stop, but he did manage to catch 2 and more importantly was very safe as he caught!!!!

Thursday:  Finally run day!  I decided to try out my calf muscle on some flat road and see how it felt.  I did my normal 1 mile with boom and Stella, and then dropped Boom off and grabbed deuce to get the rest.  It was pretty warm by the time we headed out, around 77 F,  but lower humidity and there was tons of water left on the road from the last round of rain for the dogs to take a dip in.  I think the days of running post dropping Andrew off are done.  Nothing hurt, so I think my plan of resting for several days post race really helped.  I am kind of proud of myself for listening to my body and not pushing it.  I also headed to the Crossfit box to do some deadlifts, since the Wednesday class is now all partner WODs and there is no lifting.  I had another round of regular deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, and I tried deficient deadlifts for the first time.  All challenging, but fun!  It was 89 degrees in the gym, but since I was just warming up and then lifting, I didn't feel too bad during or after. 

Friday:  Massage day!!!  I had planned a deep tissue massage with Trina at Rising Phoenix Wellness.  I needed cups and CBD oil stat!  My calf muscle wasn't horrible when she got in there and started to dig, but my feet were both a mess.  She worked most of the time on my lower legs and feet, and while it hurt horribly bad, I felt great later!  If you haven't tried cupping, you really, really should. I am seeing GREAT results with it and love it!  I think I would prefer cupping to scraping or needles any day of the week.

Saturday:  Race day!  Points race #3.  Andrew had an amazing practice Tuesday, so we were so excited to see how he did at the race...except we were due to have severe storms ALL DAY.  The club made the right decision to postpone the race for the safety of all, and I am super glad they did.  I did not think hiding in the Tahoe all day sounded like a good plan, especially if the storms were to do as they thought they would.  I was also pretty sore from my massage and had planned on using Saturday as a rest day, since most of the day would be sitting at the track.  When all the plans changed and it wasn't raining and felt nice out, i started to waver. I  really didn't have a specific distance in mind for a long run, so I could just go run for like an hour and be okay.  I could beat the storms and then shower, and we could get all the things done I needed to.  Then all the chores I needed to get done and stuff I needed to plan for baseball and Andrew's birthday party all came to my mind, and I chose to not run, to get stuff done, and to not freak out about a missed opportunities.  We cuddled up and watched scary movies,  did laundry, ate pizza, and just took some time to be still, something we won't get a lot of for the next two or so months.

Sunday:  Race day part 2!  Woke up to rain, but also woke up to reports of the rain stopping around 9 am.  Packed up and headed to the track.  Had hoped to get my longish run done pre race, but oh well sleep was important and lack of rain was as well.  It was chilly and beautiful out, so I hoped it stayed that way all day.  I will have to say this race was better, but still not where we know he could be.  They went back to the single car qualifying system, plus one heat race before the main, and he drove his little heart out in qualifying.  Had the second fastest car only by .3 of a second.  WTG!

First heat race was tough, and I thought he might pass several times, but he ended up 5th out of 7 cars because he just wouldn't pass.  Improvement over last week where he ended up 2nd and then last, just letting all of the cars pass him.  He attempted one pass and then got scared and backed off.  Baby steps.  Then the main came, and boy was it tough.  He was #3 inside and he is not a fan of the inside.  Between him freaking out about running caution laps on the inside and his outside car not getting up there so they could start, the race just didn't pan out the way I thought it would.  They had several wrecks, which is okay, they are learning, but line ups are still hard for them and single file restarts seem to be easier for them to do.  After several thrilling laps and again some racing on his part, he ended up letting 2 cars pass him and settled in for fifth again.  While I think he could have done a tiny bit better and at least passed the car in front of him that was obviously slower, I think he did improve mentally and is at least attempting to pass now.  I know his courage will come and for now we are just going to celebrate the small stuff.  He cried pretty hard post race, and I again I think that is good, because it shows he actually cares.  We have two weeks off and then a thrilling night race, so excited to see how this season shapes up. Its a long one so we have plenty of time to develop.

Post race I had to get in some mileage, and it was beautiful outside, so dropped Andrew off with daddy and headed out for 8-9 miles.  I haven't had a perfect long run in a long time, and this was perfect.  Nothing hurt, the weather was perfect, and I just was in the zone the entire run.  YIPEEEE!!!!! Got back just in time for GOT to start and hubby had BBQ and fixings ready for dinner (good job hubby, click treat).

I am glad I rested this week and didn't push it. I am glad I am able to relax a bit and not freak out about missed work outs.  I am also really happy I got 2 days in the gym, and can't wait to continue this streak.  Bring on pacing and bring on the Bill Synder half!

Winging it Week 2: Pacing Running with the Cows half marathon

Here we are again with another week of winging it and I am going to enjoy it to the max.  Spring is being a beast right now with lots of rain and lots of severe weather, so I am trying to get what I can and not feel guilty about what I can't.  Plus I have my first pacing gig this year!!!!!!   Running with the Cows 2:45 group, here I come!!!!

Monday:  Cross fit day...except no sleep happened before cross fit day started, so 4 am turned into a reset alarm clock and more sleep and that didn't even help.  We had severe storms start about 10 pm Sunday night and continue all night long, and my newly freaked out thunderstorm phobic deuce laid next to me or on me all night shaking like a leaf.  I need to try his thunderstorm shirt on him to see if that helps because if not, drugs might have to do the trick, because storm season isn't a short season here in KS.   I was pretty much a zombie all day even with mucho caffeine.

so much water in newly planted fields :(

Tuesday:  5 miles with some strides.  I am trying to get some speed work back in, just in the form of more easy speed work than big repeats.   I figure strides are the simplest way, so I am trying to do 6 or more strides in my Tuesday runs.  I will try and work up to 10.  My strides are 30 seconds in length, since I am a poor judge of distance when it comes to 100 meters on a road.   Many of the gravel roads I run on were flooded and most of the newly planted fields had water standing on them. I actually saw several fields that had pumps.  I have never in the years I have run on these country road seen the farmers using pumps to try and save fields.

the mess that is our flooded basement.  Mostly junk down there of the hubby's but still a huge mess:(

Wednesday:  Does running around like a chicken with your head cut off count for anything?  Let me try to make this short and sweet.  Had to run to Manhattan to close out a bank account that I thought had been closed months ago.  I got a NSF note in my email and was very upset to find out it was never closed down and an automatic subscription had gone through and caused me to rack up some fees.  Was told if I came in, paid the fees (even though it was their mistake for NOT closing the account originally, that all would be fine and they would close the account and give me official documentation that the account was indeed close.  TBC.  Then we had to go be adults because our old washer and dryer both died while doing laundry and was not about to spend a small fortune in quarters to finish it up.  At least now we have matching made in the USA washer and dryer.  Then we had to head back home to pump water out of out flooded basement thanks to all of the rain we have had lately.  Yeah for old houses.

matchy matchy!

Anyway, it was a mess of a day, but my hubby was a super hero and got everything pumped and hooked up, and even ate my horrible cooking without complaint AND got on the roof and made sure our gutters were totally cleaned out.

Thursday:  Easy run + Crossfit. I tried to run on pavement since my body is not really use to harder surfaces, and also pick a nice hilly course around Wamego.  I decided to do one mile with Boom and then 3 with Stella ella.  I am kind of nervous because post run, my right calf did not feel happy with the pounding of the pavement.  I am probably going to err on the side of caution and wear a compression sleeve just in case for pacing.  I really hope I did not screw something up that Trina or Doug can't quickly fix, as i have not one but two pacing gigs coming up.

Later on in the day, I hit the Cross fit gym to get the lifting done that I had missed earlier in the week.  I did my back squat series that the class did Monday, and then some deadlifts that Coach Erin suggested I try.  We did Romanian or stiff leg dead lifts, regular dead lifts, and pause dead lifts where you pause at the knee for 2 seconds and then continue up.  It honestly felt so great to not be rushed to get a WOD in or to be constrained by a 1 hour class.  While I love my Crossfit gym and coaches, I am really falling in love with power lifting and am looking into possibly doing some power lifting in Wamego versus driving to Manhattan.  I don't want to leave but it would save me time, gain me some sleep, and also save me a ton of money since Crossfit can be a bit pricey compared to a regular gym membership.  Decisions, decisions.

Andrew's 1st grade play day.  Listening to rules

Friday:  Round two of bank crap and rest day.  I had decided to forgo a hotel room (NASCAR is in town so hotel rooms go for a premium) for Friday night in Kansas city and sleep in my own bed.  This meant I needed to get to bed early so I could get up before 4 am and head out.  But first, let me explain round two of bank crap.  I finally got a refund from the company that charged me automatically and caused my supposedly closed account to overdraft, but instead of just refunding my paypal acccount, the money went back to the bank to the account I just closed.   In a panic I called the bank and low and behold, my account was STILL OPEN and on top of that, my runner's world subscription that I thought was taken out of my credit card was trying to come out and of course there was no money in the account to begin with.  I was told if I drove to Manhattan immediately and put money in the "closed" account to cover the charge, I wouldn't be charged an overdraft fee.  Insert FACE PALM SPLAT.  I had to sprint to town since Andrew's school play date at the local park was that afternoon (think field day but with cooler events), get that paid, get another round of paper work that said the account was closed YET AGAIN and come back to work.  I am so tired of dealing with this and I fear that it will never end, especially when i am given paper work saying it is closed and it isn't.  Anyway, got back in time for play day, which is a day of relay races that are super fun and cute.

  

There were so many fun games that the kiddos did and I loved helping, but seriously God bless those teachers!  I only had 5 kids to deal with and I almost lost my mind trying to keep those 5 together, listening, and not killing each other.  I can't even imagine having 20 of them every single day!

Saturday:  Pacing 2:45 group for Running with the Cows half.  This is one of my most favorite road races of all time.  HUGE pre-race spread, lots of photo ops, party post race, and amazing staff and volunteers.  This is a fund raiser for a local school in KC and they do it RIGHT!  The merch is cute, the tech tees are always colorful, and the medals always have queenie the cow.  

Since I didn't get a hotel in KC, I had to get up at 3:30 am and get ready to be out of the door by 3:50ish.  The drive was about 2 hours and we needed to be there at 6 am due to parking issues.  I also needed to fill up Jon Snow the Tahoe since I had made several trips to Manhattan this week.  I kept leaving and coming back in because I had forgotten things.  Whoops.  Finally got on the road right before 4 am.  Didn't take coffee, just took some coke zero to keep me awake.  It rained the entire way over, but I think that helped me stay awake honestly.  Got there right at 6 am and parked in a very wet field with wreckers all around (eeeekkkkk).  Jon Snow the Tahoe has 4 wheel drive, but I have never used it.  Anyway we waited until 7:10 am to line up as pacers because of the rain and cold.  Believe me I am a fan of cold and rain versus heat and humidity, so I wasn't mad, until they delayed the race because people were still trying to get parked and get to the start line.  Then the cold became a factor and I started shaking until we started. 

my 2:45 co-pacer

We started out with a few people in our pace group, but by mile 10 most had either pushed out or fallen behind :(  It makes me sad to not be able to directly help people, but I know people keep us in their sights or make it a point to stay ahead of us, so even though they don't finish with us, they still get the benefit of us being there.  

finishing by myself :(

I love this race for the course (it's tough but I have my half PR from this course), but the post race is amazing.  Think homemade goodies x infinity.  Everything from baked goods to fancy delicious pasta to delightful sub sandwiches.  It's amazing and it's a party!!!!  I am not really into eating right after races, so I had a small sub sandwich and some chocolate milk.  I had to take the pacing sticks back with me to take to packet pick up of the next race I am pacing at so I just kind of hung out till the 3 hour pacers were done and then prayed I could get out of the mucky field.  Lucky for me, i was able to slowly make my way out and back to home.  I was in bed by 8 pm and out by 8:30 pm after reading a few pages of my book.  YES!

Happy mother's day to my sweet and awesome mommy!  She really is the best!

Sunday: Mother's day!  We had a million things to do and not enough time to do them.  We needed to get to the track for race car practice and some tuning up on andrew's car.  I also wanted to finish working on the front flower beds and make a target trip, plus our local running store was having a sale on goodrs and you can't have enough goodrs in my opinion.  I also secretly wanted my favorite lunch of quiche and fru fru coffee, something my kiddo loves (the quiche that is), but no one else in my family is a fan of.  Well luck would have it that on and off again rain showers kept us home from the track and allowed me to get all the things done I wanted to do, even the fru fru coffee and quiche plus a quick target trip BONUS:)  Happy mother's day to me!!!!!

And a huge THANK YOU to my mini me for making me a mommy!  I love you so much and enjoy being your mommy more than anything in this world!

And thank you to my four legged kiddos.  Thanks for letting me sort of sleep in till 7:30 am this morning without too much fuss.  Happy mother's day to all of the other bad ass mother runners out there!!  Have a great week!  I am looking forward to getting back to the gym for more lifting, giving my calf muscle some tough love and time to stop freaking out, and andrew's third points race with his newly tuned race car.  

Winging it! Week 1

I am not sure what to call these blog posts till I start training again. I am still recovering and NOT on a plan, so maybe Winging IT should be the title? I don't officially start on plan till July, so I have two months to play around and do whatever I like! Anyway, here is my weekly wrap, enjoy.

Jon Snow the Tahoe got some stickers finally!

Monday: Crossfit.  Back squat series with my 120 max and then a fun WOD that included jump ropes, knees up on the bar, and burpees.  I fell behind the class rather quickly because well, burpees, but I did my best.

a wet and happy stella

Tuesday:  1 mile with boom and 4 with Stella.  We were having a cold misty rain and I didn't feel like dealing with 3 wet dogs all day, so Deuce stayed home and got a peanut butter kong.

these two need to enter race walking at the olympics!

Wednesday:  1st grade field trip. We basically speed walked the Topeka zoo like 5 times. I had never been to the Topeka zoo, but it was super cute and fun.  I would have liked to have spent more than 8.2 seconds per exhibit, but the kiddos wanted to do and see everything and even though we had all day, they didn't care.  The exhibits that they did stop at for more than a few seconds??

These two needed a private room

Well you guessed it, those were the ones where love was in the air.  Sigh.  I didn't know Andrew's friend or her parents, so I just said they were giving each other piggy back rides and called it good.  If it were just my child I probably would have explained it better and more scientifically, but with guests I didn't want to get into it.

Thursday:  Since the weather was a bit nicer, all dogs got their runs.  Boom got his one miler with Stella Ella and then deuce got four with Stella.  We also had our first batting cage practice with the kiddos.  They are just not getting the bat speed they need to hit off of a 35 mph pitching machine.  We are trying everything to help them and I am worried they are themselves getting very frustrated.  I just want them all to learn new things and enjoy this season and not dread baseball because of a stupid machine.

Friday:  Rest day.  Ahhhhhh.   No practices, no events, just a good dinner and early to bed.  My kind of night.

newborn stella

Saturday: Andrew's first track meet and 8 miles.  First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY STELLA!  Eight years old and still kicking ass and not slowing down at all!  To many more years!

We drove to Clay Center for our first and maybe only this year kid's track meet.  Unfortunately, there aren't many of these around and unless our club kicks in, there will be fewer next year.  I think it is a great venue for kiddos from age 5 up to 6th grade to get to try out and participate in all of the track and field events at an appropriate level for their age. Andrew has been doing one track practice a week plus all the running in his other sports, but still he has maybe done the long jump twice this year.  He isn't a huge fan of running, prefers the field events, but he has to run in order to do field.  We entered him in the long jump, the 100 and the 50 meter dash.  I am SO proud of him because even though he came in last in every single event, he never gave up, he ran and jumped hard, and he never cried.  He had a great attitude about everything, and I am so proud of him for going up against kids in elite track clubs and not batting an eye.  I had a dad kind of question my happiness and I didn't let him upset me.  Yeah, my kiddo just got three participation ribbons only, but he tried hard and never gave up and that is all I care about. 

Post track meet I had to get ready to head out for my longish run.  I wanted to do 8 or more miles for Stella's birthday.  It was my first truly hot run for the year so I knew I would be slow. I usually don't take a pack for 8 miles but I loaded up water for Stella and water + nuun for me and a snack since I hadn't really eaten lunch all day.  

We took our time, enjoyed it when the wind was in our face, and ate our snack about half way through the run.  I have a half marathon I am pacing next weekend so hoping for cooler temps and NO humidity.  

race photos but printed.  Will have to scan them in!

Sunday:  Track day!  Different track, instead of a quarter of a mile, we have 1/20th of a mile of pure concrete.  Knowing my child, I knew to expect anything.  I was pleasantly pleased with his second place first heat race.  That meant he had to start at the back of the next race and thus far he had not had to deal with lap traffic, plus this was a MUCH bigger field than last week.  Well, he lost his nerve and decided that staying at the back was a better plan than battling and trying to pass.  

This resulted in a last place for that heat, which meant he would probably be at the front for the main since they flip flop them by the way they finish in the heats.  I thought that might boost his confidence, but after seeing two wrecks, he just couldn't muster the nerve to drive like he usually drives.  I get it, he is is 6, and there is fear and doubt.  I am not going to push him and say negative things about his performance because I want him to continue, but at the same time,  I am not going to let him quit.  We have a free weekend next weekend and then a race in two weeks, so hoping he can get out of his own head and just drive.  He is so my son, I so identify with his overthinking :)

And there you have it Winging it week 1 is a wrap!!!!  Look for more of the same next week, going with the flow, winging it, and having fun.