Overcoming Disappointment

Hi all!! Sorry, to go MIA once again. I got some bad news in relation to the triathlon and honestly, it hit me pretty hard. 18 days before the race I was checking their website… well, stalking it actually since I visited it almost daily to watch that number count down! Anyway, I arrived at their site to see “RACE CANCELLED” in big red letters across their page. My heart sunk. What do you mean?? Less than three weeks to go after three months of training, how can it be cancelled? I immediately called the race director and within the hour received a call confirming that they decided the night before that they didn’t have enough participants and cancelled the race. I would get a full refund of my money. Gee, thanks! What about the money I paid for a monthly gym pass so I could learn how to swim far enough to complete your race? What about the time I stuck my kids with a babysitter so I could get out for an hour and a half bike ride or go for a run? I don’t regret my training… it made me stronger and showed me that I have bigger and better things that I can achieve. But I was mad!

My awesome family and friends consoled me and listened to me rant. Several even suggested registering for another race. Here’s the biggest problems I had with that last part… I only trained for a ¼ mile swim and that was going to be a big enough battle. Most other triathlons in the area had ½ mile or farther as their swim portion of the race. The one that was quite similar to the one I was going to do was on a weekend that I couldn’t race. My summer is beyond booked up. I was disappointed, mad, frustrated, and very very sad. I worked hard! I was so excited. I had people coming to cheer me on. I had had tons of support for three months and that wasn’t going to end until I crossed the finish line. My swimming was coming together and I was getting excited and nervous as heck. Then POOF it was gone.

Unfortunately, I kind of went into a bit of a funk over it. I haven’t done any activity since other than softball and two awesome 5Ks with friends. I haven't done any training and I’ve been eating like I may never see food again. Oops!!

But life goes on! And speaking of those awesome 5Ks, I see that I haven’t updated anything on here about them so here’s a quick rundown. I joined in on the Grandma’s Marathon festivities in mid- June by running the Irvin 5K on Friday night. I was so close to breaking that 30 minute barrier, but it still eluded me. I did manage to get a PR even though the pain in my side had me doubled over and barely able to breathe. I finished with a time of 31:48. I will beat that next year!!  This race was officially before I found out about the tri being cancelled, but ended up with a shadow casted over it by Monday. Still... it was an awesome weekend and I was beyond proud to be a part of the festivities and that I was able to be there on Saturday to give my best friend a hug after she completed her first half marathon. Watching it even gave me a little itch to want to try that one next year too… that will probably pass when someone reminds me again that the race starts at 6:30am!

Here are a couple of pics from the race weekend...

My race buddies - they seriously helped push me to that PR!

My best friend's little man cheering me on!

The happy half marathoner!

A week later I ran my #1 favorite race of the season! I gushed about it last year too… The Midnight Sun Midnight Run. I LOVE THAT RACE!!! It’s run on the Lakewalk along the shores of Lake Superior at midnight. Everything about that sentence is perfect! LOL This year I decided to take it easy. It was a rainy evening and I was there with friends and family, so I just wanted to enjoy it. And enjoy it I did! One of the friends I was running with decided she wanted to see what she could do this race. When a few slowed down to walk at about the 1 mile mark, she looked at me and said, “I want to keep running.” So I told her I’d run with her. And run we did!! She ran the entire race for the first time ever and blew her race time from last year clear out of the water! I was so proud of her. And I absolutely loved it. The coach in me came out and I haven’t seen that side of me much since my hockey coaching days. I talked her through the hills, kept her talking to me and her mind off of the run so she wouldn’t have the chance to really think about what she was accomplishing and in the end she looked at me and said, “I have NEVER run that far without walking!” It made my favorite race even better!

A few of the Midnight Sun runners

So, what’s my plan of attack from here? This weekend would have been the triathlon weekend... Instead of biking, running and swimming I'm planning on swimming, relaxing and enjoying my family. It's a pretty fair trade anyway, but that stupid sticker will have to sit on my desk until next summer. *sigh* I still have a plan. I wouldn’t be ME without a plan! Next week it’s back to running. Not only do I need to start training again, but honestly, I need the emotional release that it gives me. Life is busy, crazy, hectic, and stressful. Running is my release for that. I need to put it into action. I also need to work on losing this last 20 pounds that I have been trying to lose for 6 months!  I’ll get there! So… the plan is to run, run, run and bike a little. LOL I start my training for the Whistlestop Half Marathon the week after next which includes running 3-5 days a week with 1-2 days of cross training. I learned with the tri training that cross training ROCKS!! My body has responded so well to cross training. So, I’m focusing on that and building up speed and stamina for this year’s half. The time to beat is 2:52… I will beat it!!! The best part is that this year, I should have three running buddies in that race instead of going solo. Sounds like an awesome team event to me!