Bib #9113

During the lunch hour I went over to the Metro Convention Centre to pick up my race kit. That was certainly interesting. As I neared the place I saw a lot of people walking out carrying the red kits. I got envious. I wanted to be one of the few walking out proudly with my race kit in hand. The envy didn’t last long because I got my own soon enough. The handing out process was very organized and I was out of there pretty quickly. They scanned my chip and I confirmed that yes, indeed, my name is Jason. At that point, it was all pretty final–I was scanned in and I had my bib number. I couldn’t help but feel pride knowing that I was now “one of those people.”

Of course, my nervousness and anxiety didn’t die down as quickly as I’d hoped. However, could I really expect myself to be so calm at such a time? Anyway, as I was about to leave I saw a couple of people on stage giving a talk about race prep and general visualization. Turns out that the people were John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. I was in shock. I mean, I’ve read their articles on Runner’s World. I didn’t expect to see them in person, you know? I admire John because like me he’s a slow runner. However, despite his lack of speed he is somehow entirely inspirational. When I heard him speak, I could feel any anxieties over not being good enough just leave me. Jenny was an excellent speaker as well. What I got from her is the idea that I should completely trust my training. All of my hard work has gotten me this far. It’s enough to allow me to complete the distance. The thing is that on race day all of the focus should shift from the physical to the mental aspect. I never really considered that before. For the past few days I’ve been so concerned about my body just giving up on my a few kilometres before the finish line. Thing is, all of the concern is putting me in danger of making it all a self-fulfilling prophecy, know what I mean?

I’m a bit fearful, but I’m also ready to face Sunday morning. I will not worry about things that are out of my control. If the weather is hot and humid, I can take comfort in the fact that every single person on the course is feeling the same. If the people around me are kind of dumb in terms of making my own movement a little bit more difficult, I’ll just smile it off because eventually such a group will break off. All I can do is control my pacing. I need to make sure that I’m keeping everything stable.

Holy crap. This is all insane.

Possibly related posts:

1. The race, and the sleep deficit
2. Goals for tomorrow’s race
3. Hit by a train