6/23 Twlight Fesitival

So, Saturday Erik and I did the Potomac River Running Twlight Festival 4 miler race in Ashburn, VA. IT ended up being an insane day as we made the last minute executive decision Friday afternoon to head up to Philly at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to go support Rachel in her first ever triathlon! We knew it was going to be tight and LOTS of driving but we decided that we had to be there for her and we would make it work. So we left at 5am and proceeded to make the 3 hour drive from Alexandria to Philly. We got there soon after the start and Rabin was luckily also there to help Rach warm up and get her pumped! It ended up being a great time and got me super stoked about the idea of participating in the SheRox triathlon with Rachel in Philly on August 5th! The energy in the air was just contagious and it looked like everyone was having so much fun. Mind you, this was a sprint triathlon which is a shorter distance than Olympic triathlons, but it is still a killer event but I'm sure worth every ache and pain! Rachel did an awesome job and finished in just over 2 hours which is a great great time, especially for her first triathlon! I was really proud of her and so glad that we decided to go up there. We had to head immediately back down to VA to make it back for our race so we hopped in the car and while almost to the PA - DE line we hit a STANDSTILL on 95. We took a detour immediately and got stuck in another standstill on Rt. 1... It was hotter than hell out there, we were on a tight time crunch, and we couldn't move! We sat in traffic for almost an hour and finally things cleared up and we made it just in time for our race! It was close but it all worked out- even if our legs were mighty stiff!

The race went surprisingly well. The sun hadn't quite gone down enough to reduce any of the heat so it ended up being quite steamy out there but overall everyone seemed in good spirits. During the race the most difficult thing for me that I found was overcoming that mental block of focusing so much on my exhaustion and fatigue. I felt every step of those 4 miles and throughout the entire race I was convinced I would have to stop to walk. I didn't of course and I ended up sticking it out with a pretty good time actually but that mental thing just really frustrates me!! I ended up doing the 4 miles course in about 38min. which was under my goal. I started off a little too fast and slowed it down the 2nd and 3rd laps but I help up a pretty even pace considering that is one of my other weaknesses. It felt good in the end but I'm still annoyed by those little hurdles that keep surfacing and I need to trick myself into overcoming that mental fatigue and really motivate myself more during the race. Anyone out there got any tricks of the trade for me?