Team Atehena – TransRockies Run 2008

From Rumon

With the race start now less than a day away, things are getting real.  On her way out the door with a morning coffee, headed creekside for a read, Aviva gave me a big hug … and wouldn’t let go.  “Something on your mind, Sweetheart?”  “Ummm…no…”  “It’s gonna be fine, Angel; you’ve done all the work, it’s all downhill from here ’til the start.”  Perhaps not the best metaphor given the climbing to come, but I wanted to offer whatever I could to Vives to help settle her very reasonable case of nerves.  As anyone who’s done this kind of thing knows – especially those who have been given the dogmatic direction from Coach Carter – these last few days before a race are like being a caged animal.  You’ve been training for months (at least in Aviva’s case here), you’re as fit as you’ve ever been (ditto) and now, in gorgeous surroundings screaming out to be explored, all you should really be doing is keeping your feet up and your body hydrated.  Athletes burn energy – both positive and negative – by diving into their sport; it’s on our feet (or bike, etc.) that we channel – it’s where we find our calm.  And so, in this most tweaked of times, it’s antithetical to just sit around.  Even after years of experience, it’s a hard thing to manage.

And so here I am typing.

We’re counting ourselves lucky this morning as we again had a fab sleep.  As I’ve always told my athletes, it’s not the pre-race sleep that matters, but those nights 1- and 2-days out.  So we’re dialed…except for the fact that technically speaking the next six nights will all be pre-race sleeps.  It will be interesting to see how we both adapt to the post-race adrenaline and aching legs that won’t be avoidable in the nights to come (perhaps I shouldn’t let Vives read this post, huh?).

The better part of the morning was spent chatting over breakfast on the lawn with a mixed team from California, Juliette and Howard, running as Team Herbalife (North America) (there’s a team from Holland also).  These two were fantastic, here for all the right reasons, with a great outlook.  I think the chat went a long way  towards making Aviva less worried about the “competition”.  (When we were lunching and walking through town yesterday, Aviva kept tugging on my sleeve, whispering, “Do you think they’re runners?  How ’bout them?  Oo, they look fit!”)  Aviva’s pretty concerned about us ending up last, but I think J’s stories about the team from Europe who last year ran with a mickey of Sambuca helped a little.  (Yeah, I know!)

Sign-in and package pick-up starts in around 15, so we’re headed out shortly.  A couple of randoms before heading out:

• We’ve been taking a few pics, but for some reason neither this site nor our Flickr page seems down with downloading.  I’ll see if I can work any technomagic and get it sorted.
• Oddly, though, I was able to post a great photo (in my humble, biased) of Aviva to MuddySocks earlier today – you can check it out here.
• Thanks very much for the comments that have come in – it’s great to hear from friendly voices back home.

We’ll check back in later today after we’ve been to Reg.  Hope everyone’s having a great Sunday and getting outside wherever you are.