Preparing for Race Day

Last call!

If you know what that means, then you know what I mean. If you’ve never actually experienced last call, let me school you here. Last call is that point in the evening when the bartender gives you fair warning to drink up, pay up and get out. You have officially run out of time to order another round or get a little something to eat.

Two to three weeks out from race day, you can consider that last call has been made. You have been working out your training plan. You (hopefully) have  been eating a little better, found some comfortable gear, and are getting excited about the big day.

You may be getting so excited that you start thinking, “Dang, I deserve a whole new outfit just for race day!” Or you may start obsessing over the perfect pre-race breakfast, which you have determined may or may not not be your usual bowl of  Cheerios.

Careful, sister. Now is NOT the time to make any changes – it’s too late. The bartender says, “If you don’t work here or sleep with someone who works here, you’re done.” That’s after-hours speak for: if you’re not an experienced runner that has tested that breakfast bar, sports drink or brand of socks in training, it will have to wait.

Stick to the plan. Stick to what you know, because on race day there will be enough new, different and anxiety provoking. You don’t need to pile on with a breakfast that might wreak havoc on your digestive system or new clothes that chafe in places you’ve never chafed before. You want to free yourself from every variable and worry that could distract you from giving your best effort. You’ve worked too hard and come too far to get derailed by something foolish now.

I met a woman at the start line of the Zooma Austin Half Marathon, who somehow managed to forget to pack her running bra. Now you know how passionate I am about the right bra, so you can imagine my dismay as she tells me she stopped at Wal-Mart to buy a new one. Not only was it a low-rent bra, but a new bra on race day.

Red alert, people!

When I saw her at the finish line, she was the embodiment of misery – her performance sadly hindered by painfully distracting chafing and blisters. Do not repeat her race experience.

You can’t control the weather, the crowds or your monthly cycle, but you can be reasonably sure that you know what feels good in your stomach and what feels good on your body when you run. That, and a little race day adrenaline, will give you freedom to fly.

Then you can think about treating yourself to something new – something pretty, pampering or decadent. You deserve it.