Butterflies??? Where are they coming from? And why this time?
In less than 3 days, I’ll be running the first of my 3, maybe 4 half marathons this year. But this is the first time I have experienced butterflies. Those little flutters that tickle the insides catching you unaware throughout the day and waking you up in the middle of the night.
I never had experienced butterflies over the last 4 years but, then, I was mainly focused on some injury or major ache as well as if I would even be able to do the race.
This year I trained differently. With the added training and focus on my running form, I now have this feeling of anxiousness. With no injury or major pain to worry about, my mind keeps asking “Can I do this?”, “Will my IT Band be fine?”, or “Will my shin splints act up?” Then on top of all of that, there is another concern.
This course is freaking me out.
Normally, I can drive the course and/or even run the parts of it I think will bother me before the actual race. This time I haven’t been able to as it’s in Portland. Then there is this elevation gain. Hills don’t bother me too much but the ones I’ve been training on are no more than 2 or 3 blocks long.
On this route, we run a fairly flat course until we reach mile 3. That is when we start a long climb from about 98 feet above sea level to 298 feet until we hit mile 6. This elevation gain doesn’t seem much unless you are running for 3 miles uphill and you still have 7.1 miles left to run.
In trying to lessen this concern, I have gone over my normal checklist plus I made a list of items I need to bring that normally don’t travel with me. Things like my roller for rolling out my IT Band, my rubber band for doing squats, and my pre-race breakfast.
For the race, my Garmin will be set to alert me to my running plan, 9 minutes run, 1 minute walk. My iPod Shuffle will have upbeat music and a Chi Running audio sprinkled throughout to remind me of the proper running form. My iFitness Belt will have bottles filled with an electrolyte sports drink for drinking along the way as well as goodies to eat stuff in the pouch.
My after-the-race bag will have a bottle of chocolate milk, several packets of string cheese, and a pair of comfy sandals.
Prepared, yes, but the butterflies still won’t go away. So instead, I have been telling myself that with my running plan, I should be fine.
“Yes, I will be fine. These butterflies are just pre-race flutters to make sure I’m light on my feet throughout this race.”
And now repeat, again. . .