i was ready for yesterday's race.
i had a great first half of my warm up at the hotel in the morning.
i arrived at the race with plenty of time to get ready.
i was fueled up and hydrated.
i was familiar with the course.
i got to the starting area 20 minutes before my wave began.
i finished my warm up and patiently waited to be called to the line.
i was calm, focused and relaxed.
i was ready to race.
but even with all that preparation i'm still susceptible to making mistakes. with only seconds to go before the race began, i made my towards the starting line and realized that i'd lost my timing chip. i panicked and frantically started looking all over for it. the horn sounded and as i turned and watched the athletes take off a foggy confusion settled in. was that my wave that just started? it has to be too soon. i lost all concentration and couldn't think of what to do and feeling completely fuddled i started my timer, ran over to the starting line and asked a race official, was that the 30-34 wave?. i think so, he said. i ran over to another race official. was that the 30-34 wave? yes. already several seconds behind the pack, off i went without a timing chip. as soon as i took off everything snapped back into place. my focus returned and i caught up to my wave and started moving towards the front. i'm going to do this race. i won't have an official time but i'm still going to do this race.
