It’s time for Friday Five linkup with DC area bloggers Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC, Cynthia at You Signed Up for What?!, and Mar at Mar on the Run!

FridayFiveLinkup
Each week Courtney, Cynthia, and Mar either suggest a theme for that week’s Friday Five Linkup, or leave it up to individual bloggers to come up with their own Free Friday theme.  This week’s theme is Race Rituals

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My five race rituals are a combination of things to help make my race morning go as easily as possible.  Nothing superstitious here, just a routine to make my life easier.

1.  Whenever possible, I pick up my race packet the day before the race.  I like having my race bib at home ready to pin on my shirt, and I like not having to worry about the added stress of packet pick-up on race morning.

DebPRRPacketPickUp
2.  If necessary, I go grocery shopping the day before the race to buy salmon, salad ingredients, and sweet potatoes for dinner; and of course bananas and bagels for breakfast.  On the way home, I stop at the running store to buy our preferred running fuel for during the race.

RoastedSweetPotatoFries

3.  The night before the race Bill and I lay out all of our gear, and pack what we can in the car.  We finalize our parking plans and make arrangements with anyone that might be car pooling with us.  Recently, I have started taking a picture of my flat runner to post on Instagram and our MRTT Facebook page.

FlatRunnerRainy

4.  Race morning, we try to get there about an hour before the race to get in the porta potty line, meet any friends or fellow running bloggers that we’ve coordinated with, and take our obligatory multi-chapter MRTT picture.  If it’s a shorter race, I try to squeeze in time to go out and run a warm-up mile or so.

Firecracker5KMultiChapterMRTTLadies

5.  Just before the race, I make sure to shut down all of my phone apps and open up RunKeeper and get it ready to go before slipping my phone back into my SPIbelt.  Next, I seed myself according to the pace I plan to run, relax, and enjoy the energy of the crowd around me.  Once the race starts, there’s no ritual – it’s game on!

Leesburg20KStartLineSelfie

Hope you’ve gotten a new idea or two from my rituals.  Happy racing!

 

  • Questions:
  • What are your race rituals?
  • What are your fan rituals before your favorite team’s game?
  • Who’s racing this weekend?