Only 3 sleeps left!

Today is the first really humid, hot day in Ottawa. It coincided with a Sens rally at City Hall at noon hour today. I popped by but couldn't hack the heat and stiffling crowd, so quickly left again. Go Sens! It's pretty exciting that they're in the Stanley Cup playoff!!

I had my sport massage last night and it was blissful. My muscles felt a lot better today, and I even got out for a short, relaxing run after work just to stay loose and limber. I went around Mud Lake and saw a little turtle crossing the path in front of me.

Last Monday, I felt the anxiety of the race creep up on me. I previously wrote (below) that I had a restless sleep on Monday night because I was fretting so much. However, at this moment, I can report that I am much more calm thanks to my Running Room running buddy. On Tuesday night, we both ran with the RR group (10km at race pace, ugh). After the run, I got a ride home with my clinic buddy and we talked about how we felt on that run. We have both been feeling tired and worn out of late, and have both been ravenously, inexplicably craving chocolate. Anyway, I voiced my concern about how tired I felt going up a particular hill that night, and she said to me that she's not even going to worry about that because this is her first half marathon, like me, and so she's focusing on just finishing the race and whatever time she gets will serve as a benchmark for future races. I found what she said extremely reassuring.

She's quite right - whatever time I get on Sunday will be a Personal Best for me. I shouldn't put so much pressure on myself to finish faster than my original goal time. I really want to enjoy this race and have fun, and not feel like I am killing myself just to prove to myself that I can beat my goal time.

So, now I'm focusing on feeling more relaxed and calm and am working on not putting so much pressure and expectation on myself. A few aches and pains in my legs have been making themselves known during the last two weeks, so I had better prepare myself regardless in case something goes wrong during the race and I have to back off my pace entirely. Let the mental preparation and visualization begin!!

Okay, gotta go; 30 Rock is on tv!!