We are 10 days away from race start. In the next week, racers will slowly start trickling in from Managua, and I will start seeing more and more familiar faces on the beach strip. I can’t wait. The surfer and backpacker crowd must
I have to say… My chances of the coveted DNF are improving by the minute.
Math. Statistics is a powerful science. Not a single woman has finished this event (yet). Only four men have. Some racers coming this year will be attempting to finish this race for the third time, after failing to do so last year, and the year before.
Mojo. I do not know if it is the heat, or my lack of conditioning over the winter, but I simply could not find my running mojo since coming to Nica. All the runs felt hard, and sweaty, and not in a good way. The legs grinded out the kilometres, but there was no joy in that movement.
This morning, I found my legs while doing warm-up sprints. Barefoot on the beach. Run like the wind. Run with the wind. Run against the wind. Strong and pouncy.
Injury. Nothing new or exciting. But my old hamstring injury is back and it’s angry. Cold taper from here on out. Yoga helps. Hiking up and down the volcano with weight probably will not.
Trees. Climbing trees will definitely be in this race. It always is. It is one of those signature tasks like wood chopping is in the Death Race.
Yet, I seem to have a mental block around this one. I am convinced that I cannot climb a tree, and I am not (yet?) convinced that I actually want to learn how to climb one. This body is good at many things – agility OFF the ground is not one of them.
Lake. Swimming in any direction is annoying, because you get bitch slapped no matter where you go. But, fresh water. It IS a lake, even though it is more reminiscent of a sea. That was undoubtedly a nice surprise.
Close your mouth, and keep going. And enjoy it, I guess. Also, the water is warm. Warm even for a major cold wimp like me. I wash the sand off my workout gear after my barefoot workouts. Heaven.
I know I can finish this race. But it is not necessarily going to be this year.
Meanwhile, it’s sunny. I teared up watching the sunrise this morning. And DNF or not, I’m happy as a clam.
Hugs,
SOLO