Just Pedal

Okay, okay, you may be wondering how I am two days away from my first 100-mile mountain and NOT freaking out. I should be freaking out, right? Well, maybe not if I'd trained perfectly all winter and spring like a good little girl, but I think if that were the case I would be freaking out due to delusions of grandeur right now (trying to get the hole shot on Chris Eatough or something). Luckily, right now my delusions of grandeur are limited to, "Maybe I'll pull off a coup and beat like two people."

So what AM I thinking regarding the Lumberjack? Just pedal. That's my race plan.

At the Ouachita Challenge I was so many months removed from my last contact with either other racers or singletrack, that I got way too concerned about actually racing and blew myself up early. That won't be a problem on Saturday. I will line up in the back and when the gun fires I will pedal. Just pedal, drink water, and take a slurp off my flask of Perpetuem-based goop every 20-30 minutes. I refuse to give a crap about who is in front of or behind me until the finish line is in sight.

So that is why I'm not freaking out. I'm pretty sure that despite my sub-par training, I still have what it takes to finish if I pace myself. At least I won't have to hike-a-bike over a bunch of rocks this time (at least that's what I've been told). I do get a sick feeling in my stomach when I think that maybe I don't have the fitness to finish or that I won't make the time cutoff or that my pedal will fall off mid-race again, but what can I do?

Just pedal.