The hard gifts....

Race Days are a gift for many athletes. It’s the day you prepare for and recount so many times in your head during the months of training. It’s the big event! The finale of everything you have worked for.

Some days are perfect, great weather, great energy and health and no technical difficulties. I often wake up with a few butterflies and maybe a little tired, but mostly excited at what the day will bring. It’s usually fun, always an adventure, and a day I won’t forget. This last weekend I was able to travel with some friends and do a race in some pretty nasty weather. It was a tough ride, the race took me 90 minutes longer than planned. It was cold, wet and windy the ENTIRE race.

The look on my face pretty much sums up my day.

Its the: "Who the hell signed me up for this race face." 

It was the type of race that breaks people down and many of us found our limits that day. But it was still a good day. About 10 miles into the race my cyclagrin kicked in. (That’s the cycling version of a permagrin). There were very few times during the rest of the day that I wasn’t smiling. Although this day was a little more emotional than many races! I crawled into bed very tired, and very satisfied that night. It was hard, and I had trained for several weeks to work hard. I worked really hard for the chance to be wet, cold and kind of miserable for nearly 6 hours. But I still consider it a truly epic and wonderful day.

I have another bike race coming up in a few weeks, so please pray for some warm and sunny weather. (And maybe pray for a constant tailwind if you have good praying skills.) I am kind of banking on a slightly more enjoyable ride. 

Sometimes race days don’t work out the way you expect. But I will continue to go back for more chances to create epic days with friends as long as I can!