Day in the Life: Race Day

6:00AM: Alarm goes off.

6:10AM: Second alarm goes off.

6:14AM: Turn off third alarm and set a new alarm for 6:45AM:

6:45AM: Alarm goes off. Get out of bed. Brush teeth, hair, and wash face.

6:50AM: Eat some instant oatmeal and banana. Get dressed. Hunt down some sunscreen. Fill my water bottles. 

7:25AM: Get into car. Realize I forgot I needed to get gas.

7:30AM-8:45AM: Usual gas station is closed. Have minor heart attack and find second gas station. Pick up some carbonated water from the gas station because I’m not used to being up this early and my stomach feels off. Set GPS and I’m off!

8:50AM: Pick up race kit and head back to the car to smother myself in sunscreen.

9:00AM-10:20AM: Sit in the shade, do some stretching, take advantage of no lines at the bathrooms. Watch the kids 3K race and then the kids free 1K race.

10:20AM-10:37AM: Walk over to the start line. Corral’s are based off of an honor system and you choose where you belong. I get into the last wave because I’m a slower runner and it is my first trail race.

11:30AM-11:45AMish: Finish race. Even for my first it was slower than I expected. Grab some snacks and cooldown. No one came with me so I headed back to the car to blast some AC and post some pictures before I leave.

12:00PM: Stop at the Popeye’s Supplements store I saw on my way in. Grab some more snacks for the drive home and get ecstatic that they have Oh Yeah! ONE bars. I can’t find them locally so I can’t wait to try them. I eat a protein brownie and drink a litre of water mixed with my favourite BCAAs. 

1:15PM: Arrive at home. Immediately head for the shower and start stripping of my clothes. With humidity I was running in temperatures of 30-40 degrees so even after sitting in my air-conditioned car for over an hour, I am a sweaty mess.

1:30PM: Join my boyfriend and my sister outside for a beer while I continue to cooldown. 

2:00PM: Boyfriend was hot so he went inside. I followed and he convinces me to try another beer. After those two I really work on getting more water in. I’m tired and want to have my nap but my boyfriend put on a Batman movie because he knows I’m a sucker for
the superhero movie and I push the nap aside. He also pulls out my favourite tortilla chips from Farmboy, along with a carton of their half salsa-half guacamole dip.

5:30PM: I’m being grouchy and needy so I curl up in my basement bedroom and sleep for an hour.

6:30PM: I wake up just as my boyfriend is getting ready to barbeque. He also bought me my favourite Farmboy burger (blue cheese!). I feel like I have a slight case of heat exhaustion so I drink some club soda.

7:00PM: Back to the couch. I’m still tired so my boyfriend and I watch the second season of How I Met Your Mother while I work on getting in another litre of water before bed. I’m having trouble drinking it so I take it with more BCAAs. The flavouring does the trick.

10:00PM: Cravings hit so I reach for Ben and Jerry’s (The Tonight Dough = my favourite), watch another half hour of TV, then crawl into bed. Despite my nap earlier I have no problems falling asleep and I pass out for a solid 11 hours. 

Are you a trail runner or a road runner?

Do you have any race day rituals?

How many alarms do you need to wake up?