Competition Excitement or Let down?

This is competition week and I am excited about traveling to the largest inline marathon in the country, Northshore Inline Marthon. I started off this summer with a goal of breaking 1:20, but the challenges of life, work and staying focused has me re-evaluating that goal this week. I am struggling with the notion of not reaching my goal, yet excited at the possibility. I guess if it was a forgone conclusion that the goal would be met, then there wouldn't be the excitement. If I don't reach the goal then I have to not let that be my whole experience at the race. 99% of us are not doing it for money or prestige, but a sense of accomplishment and enjoying a sport that gives us health and friends.

I always have to remind myself of why I do these events to begin with. Sure, I want to compete and always improve but I view the events as an athletic getaway.
As I taper my training for the week and get on the plane to MN, I have to keep the excitement up and not let a number dictate how much I enjoy the race. Good luck to every skater at the race and I hope each of you has your own goals that you are striving for.

Falling off the training wagon

After the St Paul Marathon, I was feeling confident and looking forward to excelling at Northshore. Well, that quickly dissolved as my training suffered for three weeks and now I am only 10 days away from my season finale... Northshore Inline Marathon. This week has been a struggle on my interval training and feeling stressed that I will not reach my goal of breaking 1:20 next week. Tonight is a power pyramid workout and I'm hoping to get in a hard, fast training session.