I consider myself lucky that I have a personal cheering section for every race I compete in. Regardless of time, distance, etc., my wife and kids come to all of my races. This really helps me out a lot, not only for the encouragement while I’m out on the course, but the ability to talk with my family right before a race really helps with my pre-race nerves. However can there be too much of a good thing? Specifically, what about when travelling to a race location where more “extended” family members live. Is this a good thing – to have more family members there to cheer you on and celebrate your finish? Or is it a bad thing – more people there who want to spend time with you and don’t understand what you need to do to get yourself ready for a race? I bring this up right now because of my experience at the Duathlon National Championships a few weeks ago, which was held in St. Paul, MN where basically all of my in-laws live. But the situations are not specific to that trip and have occurred several times in the past.
One thing I certainly do not want to do is make my family mad. At the same time, one of the main reasons for this blog is to be honest with myself and my readers about situations that arise while training and racing. I don’t want this blog to become just a race report; I really want it to be useful to everyone who takes the time to read it. I have found this topic to be a very touchy one for myself and I would assume others as well.
I’ve been thinking about this subject for a while; the day before the Duathlon National Championships last month, I was in a really pissy mood. Why? Because my wife and her family made plans to get together the night before. Seriously, that was why. The worst part is I actually did want to spend time with them, but instead I talked my wife/family into staying in our hotel room alone, eating a microwave breakfast sandwich instead. I really earned that “World’s Best Dad” mug! My problem, and it is my problem, is that I feel if things leave my control before a race, something will go wrong and my race will be ruined.
Going back even further, the best race experience I ever had was at the Disneyworld Marathon in 2009. My mother, younger sister and brother live in Florida, so they came over to Orlando to watch me run the race. As a surprise, my older sister traveled down from Illinois with my niece to also watch me run the race. Not to be left out, my dad actually planned a trip to Florida at the same time just so he too could spectate. Really, how awesome is that? Even more than you can imagine since the number of times my entire family gets together is along the same timelines as Hailey’s comet coming around. Anyway, it was great and easily the most enjoyable, memorable races I’ve ever done regardless of how I did (although it did help that I ran my best marathon time too!). The problem was the day and night before the race though. I wasn’t able to do my normal pre-race routine. I was getting pulled in a number of different directions – no one understood what I felt I needed to do to get ready for the next day. Literally 6 hours before I had to wake up for the race, I was getting calls asking if I wanted any leftover chicken to eat…LEAVE ME ALONE! But obviously I got through it and the main thing I remember from that race is how my whole family made such an effort to come see me race. Not to be all sentimental, but it was a very special thing to me.
So what does this all mean? It means I will most definitely continue to sign up for races in locations where my family can come cheer me on. I hope they enjoy doing it, because it’s certainly special for me. However I think I need to structure things differently. I need to plan my stays accordingly, so that if I need time to get ready the night before, I really should stay longer after the race to visit. In fact as I’ve gone through writing this (I’ve started and stopped it several times over the past 2 weeks), the idea of doing more races where my family can see me actually gets me excited. Let’s just hope I remember this feeling next time when it’s close to midnight on the eve of a race and I’m being asked if I want any leftover chicken!
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