Race Week 3!

The third week of the month is always a doozy for me.  We normally have our big BNI regional meeting on Mondays, PTO Tuesday night, our normal BNI meetings Wednesday morning and then our quarter midget track club Wednesday night.  It's emotionally draining because I put 1000 percent into every organization I participate in.  It's also hard because I am stepping way out of my comfort zone in several of the new organizations I am in, and so to be questioned about my efforts, well, it's hard.  I do take it personally because I feel like I am doing the best job I possibly can.  I also feel super guilty because I feel like I need to put forth more effort than I am, even if i am giving it every minute that I possibly can and work, be a mom, run,  and just plain old exist.  It really makes me question why I am a part of these groups if my effort is going to be questioned and scrutinized instead of welcomed and appreciated.   Anyway, just needed to whine a bit now moving on to nicer things!

Well, take a step back, this isn't nicer, but it is a reality for me right now.  As summer rolls around, I am moving back to early morning running, not only for me, but also for the comfort and safety of my dogs.  Thus far we haven't had any high spikes in heat or humidity, but we are so busy at night right now that if I am going to try and do any base holding at this point, I have to get up early and run.  Last year I noticed a big difference in Stella's heat tolerance or lack there of.  Heck, even I seem to supremely struggle with training in the heat, which kills me because there are SO many good ultras in the fall.  I also had the scare at the 50 miler where I knew something was wrong with Stella, but couldn't figure out what.  She had NO obvious injury or limp, just was running head down, not really engaging in me while she ran.  I quickly switched her out but still.  She had a chiro appointment with her beloved chiro Dr. A on Monday and she just had so many things wrong that were painful to adjust that it just made me know that retirement from any long runs/long distances is the best thing for Stella.  We can still do short runs and Dr. A is going to put her on some herbs to help with any inflammation or soreness, but she probably will no longer race and will have very limited training with me. I haven't really processed all of this fully yet.  I knew it was coming and had odd hope that she could somehow do the 50k and the 50 miler but I knew in the back of my mind that this was probably not going to happen, thus the reason I brought Boom just in case.  While he has a super long way to go before he is the awesome trail and running dog that Stella ever was, he is settling in and getting better.  

I did run but only twice and it is what it is.  For me this is the summer of no guilt and running for fun.  What I get is what I get.  I am disappointed in myself that I am NOT getting my weight training done but that is going to be the priority moving foward.  Now on to race day!  Since I am writing all of this way past when I needed to post it, this will be short and sweet.  The computer draws for us and andrew got super lucky in that he got the pole in Jr Honda and outside pole in Junior animal.  While he still isn't passing right now, he is back to mostly holding his ground and holding on to his position.  He finished 2nd to Makayla in Jr Honda heat and post a big wreck on the start of Jr Animal, got shuffled all the way to back and finished 5th.  The good: we inverted the field thanks to the coin flip so that helped in Jr Animal to put him back to the front.  The bad: the good finish in Jr Honda was now reversed and he would have to work his way back to the front which is not his strong suit yet.  As I figured, he stayed where he was in Jr Honda and tried to stay out of several wrecks and finished 6th even with a very fast dialed in car.  He held on to his spot for second place in Jr animal and lost to the lovely and talented Makayla again.  I knew he wouldn't be able to hold her off, even with a fast car.  We celebrated with pool and burgers post race at the pool hall in town and andrew had so much fun with his friends!

Have a great week y'all!  Humidity is back so boo but hopefully we will acclimate and make it through!