The week before the week....
And now the anxiety has started to settle in a bit. I have started to work on my Steelhead 70.3 race plan, pacing strategy and equipment prep list. Now, I am not a nervous person by nature but the closer this race gets I suddenly find myself getting nerved up a bit. Yesterday I found out my bib number and starting wave (bib 1754, wave 11). Suddenly it is not about talking, it is real and it is about doing! I know my fitness is there to complete this race, that is not the issue here. I think what it all boils down to is this. Last December after going through my shoulder surgery, I signed up for this event even before I could lift my arm above my head. I wanted a goal in front of me that scared the crap out of me so I would not just go through my physical therapy but I would push my physical therapy and come back stronger than ever. Call me crazy but that is how this guys works, haha. Well, now that big scary goal is almost over and yes my shoulder is fine, yes I am physically fit enough to do it, but I haven't made any major goals beyond this one. It is like this is the end of a great big long journey and I have no idea what lies beyond it. Well all that stuff and this is the biggest freaking race I have ever been in, in my life!!
Once Steelhead is over I have a couple of product reviews I plan to do. One I plan on doing will be about my experiences with a can't live without product called Body Glide. In the interest of full disclosure, I was sent a couple of sticks of it last week to write a review. On a personal note, I already love the product so it won't be hard to write about. If anyone out there has any other products they would like me to try just let me know. I also have another fun project involving work that I will be announcing shortly that everyone here can follow along with. So, I guess I have some things to look forward to after Steelhead after all.
As for my review of the Interlochen race. I have gone back and forth on what to actually say about that event. I love the race venue. I love camping in the State Park which hosts the event. I think the course is a good one and very challenging. Unfortunately I have a lot of negative feelings about the race organizers. I don't want to use this forum to air a bunch of negativeness and I surely want to encourage anyone who has thought about doing this race to go do it. Believe me the positives far outweigh the negatives in this case, for me. I have heard many things I did not witness from this race. The only thing I will say is this. 3 Disciplines as a race company works their rear ends off to put on a quality race. I am, however, tired of excuses and disappointment at everyone of their events. They have been in business long enough to get it right EVERY time they put a race on. Enough excuses. In this case they advertised "tech T's" for anyone registered by a certain date. There were no "tech T's" they had "moisture wicking" tshirt's and not a consistent message from the volunteers. Some people were told there weren't any "tech T's" and some were given the moisture wicking line. Either way most people know the difference who run these races. They ran out of finishers medals long before I even crossed the finish line, we'll see if it show in the mail like they said it would. Lots and lots of other little stuff at every one of their races. If your budget is that tight Kenny, then you need to raise your prices, plan better, cut costs or stop letting so many people sign up the day before or day of a race! You could even put a cap on the day of day before registrations so you don't go over your available capabilities. I could go on and on about the petty things that annoyed me at this and every 3 Disciplines race but I will stop for now. I will continue to do their events but I am thinking that next year I will try a couple of other ones for a better comparison. I have been told there is a huge difference in quality of race organization so we will see. In the mean time, I am already planning my return to Interlochen for next years race.
Until later, happy training and everyone needs to go on over to the Kodafit blog and tell him congrats on his new addition in his family that should be arriving today.
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