Sometimes it is knowing when NOT to start

Yep, the Seattle Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon and Full Marathon took place this past weekend. I was training and ready for it. Between the work I was doing with Kim at TN Multisports and at Crossfit, I was ready. Not overtrained or anything, but ready.

The weather was looking good and things were falling into place. But racing is part preparation and part luck, which leaves the element of the unknown (i.e., what you cannot control). I had a great year in 2010 where everything fell into place for me. Well this year, I got dinged with a bug the week of the race which was as ill-timed as they come because I couldn’t take in any calories in the days leading up to the race. I COULD HAVE raced. Yes, I could have run a decent race. But if you don’t have fuel in your system, lots of bad things can happen. It seems overly dramatic, but nothing like fainting from a lack of fuel in the system and potentially hitting your head on the concrete, or letting yourself get so dehydrated that you cause some other damage (yes, it happens).

So on Thursday when it looked like things weren’t heading in the right direction, I made the call on my own to not race on Saturday. I told a handful of people about my decision prior to the race because while I knew it was absolutely the right decision, I was obviously disappointed. That said, Marc and I committed to taking 3 of our friends to the start line and so I relieved him of those duties, and took our friends to the start at 5:30am.

I told the trio that I wasn’t racing, they were sympathetic and encouraging of the move. I told them to kill the course as the weather conditions seemed favorable. Sure enough, they did and the 3 of them had a great day.

When I posted on Facebook that I didn’t start, I received a number of private messages and e-mails complimenting me on knowing that I SHOULD NOT race. Thanks for those as they meant a lot. Not racing this race is nowhere near the end of the world. My overall health comes first and I’m the only one who really knows how I am feeling, and Marc needs to know that I can make that call (and vice versa) in spite of being the competitor that I am.

I went and did Crossfit yesterday morning, which had a mile of running incorporated in the workout. Since no food in the system, I felt fine and not nauseous. Yeah, I know what could have been. But I also know that 20 minutes of working out hard vs. an hour and 50 minutes of working hard are two very different things.

On the non-racing front, I'll just add that we have been busy with having fun over at Chez Beck celebrating many positives, trying out some restaurants around town and just entertaining with family and friends - local and out-of-town. We're lucky folks.

As a number of you said, another race will always beckOn….. and I’ll be there.:-)