True Confessions of a Samurai

In the next 2 days I am facing the greatest challenge of my life.

You would think that becoming a mom and a wife at the age of 19 would be scary. You would think that walking my first marathon in 2006 would be scary. You would think over coming incest, eating disorders, multiple personalities would be a challenge and difficult. And yes, they all had their challenges. I certainly would have never gotten this far if I wasn’t a fighter.

This weekend, though, I find myself facing what I believe my biggest challenge yet, and I’m a bit scared/psyched out.

First I decided to run The Race to Robie Creek (the toughest 1/2 marathon in the Northwest). It’s 9 miles UP hill (steep) and 3 miles down (steep) hill and the last mile is supposed to be flat, but when I drove it last weekend, it looked pretty down hill to me. I signed up for this back in February. It’s a coveted race and race bibs sell out in 10 minutes for 2100 participants. This was meant to be my year. I have trained hard for this race. I have trained on the actual trail (its dirt road for 9 miles of it). I have trained on the hills by my house. I have trained on my favorite steep hiking hill. My running times have gotten faster. I have trained!

After registering, they announced this years theme…”Samurai”. The Legend says that walkers and slow runners can be eaten alive by huge carnivorous disgusting Rocky Canyon Sailtoads. This year anyone who does this race becomes a Samurai Sailtoad.

Then a 1 1/2 months ago, I decided I was quitting my job to become a Zumba instructor. The ONLY local (by that I mean 2 hours away) certification I could find was THIS Friday. The day before The Race to Robie Creek. This certification is 8 hours long with 2 hour drives each way…the day before a major race. I will be doing Zumba (actual physical exercise for a good portion of this).

In case you don’t know, the LAST thing you should be doing the day before a long endurance race is hard exercise. The week before a race, you should be resting with *maybe* a short 2 mile easy run ONCE during the week. In all of my excitement and wisdom have decided to do Zumba Certification the day before this mammoth run. I knew what I was doing when I signed up for Zumba; I knew what the date was. I worried over it for a while before actually registering. But I decided to go ahead and do it anyway, even if I have to walk the race the next day.

So here I am, the day before Zumba certification and 2 days before Robie and I’m scared and psyched out!

Samurai means warrior. Warrior means “a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness as in politics or athletics.”

Today, I am not certain I feel quite like the Samurai I am supposed to be. Words can not express how nervous I am! I have spent hours worrying over what I am going to wear; it is supposed to be 80 degrees with no shade in a canyon. HOT if there is no breeze! It’s been raining for 2 days on top of the snow melt up there which means slippery/wet conditions on the dirt road. Did I mention it is going to be hot? I run with 40 oz of water in my hydration belt and usually my husband driving a support vehicle meeting me every 2 miles to make sure I have all the water I need, but he can’t for this race. The race is supported with 9 aid stations and they say they are bringing extra water but the slow runners should plan on having their own water just in case. Umm..hello…. I am slow!

My husband told me that I am NOT slow and most likely middle of the pack now that my pace has picked up. I went to the running store, worried about this, and the lady told me to trust the run coordinators; it’s not their first race. She told me I have done everything I can and I am prepared; trust my training.

That’s it. I gotta trust my self. Trust my training. Trust my body; I am in the best shape of my life! I will dominate both Zumba and Robie!

I am Samurai!