My longest race EVER is tomorrow morning at 8am in Santa Barbara! I registered for the Santa Barbara Semana Nautical 15K about three months ago hoping to find a midsummer race to keep me motivated through the season. It’s my last mini-race (and by mini I mean magnitude AND cost) until September…which is pretty much the month when everything will be splitting sideways and not stopping until after Thanksgiving, maybe even Christmas.
Independence Day has always been bittersweet for me. I’ve either spent it alone, coercing people into doing things with me, or being coerced into doing things. This year I’ll be spending it running! (I made plans well in advance to prevent the spending it alone, being coerced, or coercing others.) I’m looking forward to running my first 15K in beautiful Santa Barbara, a gorgeous college town I had not ventured into for almost a year now. There’s a few spots I would love to hit before I skip town since I’m doing a turnaround trip — The Blue Agave for dessert, maybe Pierre Lafonde Wine Bistro for breakfast, that cute little game shop on State Street where I found a pint-sized version of Family Business. For sure I want to spend some time near/on the water. Ideally I’d get some open water swimming but that might not be in my cards this time, unless I can rationalize an ocean swim as some sort of post-run shower!
I think that this run is going to be great — it’s so close to the ocean that I’m positive that I’ll be able to catch a glimpse of an ocean vista sometime during the 9.3 miles. This will be my longest race to date, but not quite my longest run. I’ve ran longer, but I’ve been in cross-training mode and have been tapering off my running so that I could add in more cycling and swimming. I miss running but I guess I’m cutting down so that I can balance my training out a bit. Missing my running time makes me tackle my cycling and swimming with more gusto.
In the spirit of Independence Day I hope everyone finds something to celebrate. I hope that somewhere, deep inside, we can all remain independent of the forces around us that we cannot control. I hope that we all find some sort of inner peace that we can rely on to guide us during hard times. Most of all, I hope that we all find motivation to do things that we *wish* we could do. Most of the things we seek are well within reach if we can recognize the willpower and desire within. For me it’s simultaneously tackling my marathon training with more serious dedication, while focusing and balancing my triathlon training. Why I do it is a completely different story, although freeing in of itself!
Amara in Training 