Focus Week

Alrighty y'all, it's Focus Week.

Training for the July 12th 5K race in Flint, Michigan begins on Monday, May 19th. That is one week from yesterday.

Are you all geared up? Is your mind right?

For me, preparing for a race is just as much mental as it is physical. I have to get my mind in it in order to succeed.

The best way for me to do that is to visualize the race in my mind. I look up the course and check to see if there are any hills. I look to see how many people are going to be there. I paint a picture in my brain of me running at full speed towards the end. All these things pump me up and get me focused and ready for success.

Here is an excerpt from a previous post, where I discussed my vision for this race -

Here is my vision for this race:

My readers and I all meet at a specified location at 7 a.m. for a little pre-race pep rally. We are all sporting blue t-shirts of some kind, not necessarily matching but somewhat uniformed. We register for the race, and take a place at the start line. We are all smiling and probably sweating already since it is July.

We all know that at no point will we feel alone, ashamed, or embarrassed. Since we have all made a pre-race pact to "Finish Together and Finish Strong" there is no anxiety from those who have never done this before. There is strength in numbers so we will be strong!

We will have all agreed to some sort of goal before hand, something like two minutes walking, one minute jogging (subject to change:) so we all know what to expect and what is expected of us. Again, since we are going to "Finish Together and Finish Strong" we will know that every time that one minute of jogging comes up we can do it!

The one minute of jogging will be a very slow and steady pace. Since the true goal is to "Finish Together and Finish Strong" their isn't competition amongst this group. We are one!

The two minutes off will not only be a time to get our heart rates in check but to celebrate the fact that we all just ran together for one whole minute! Every one minute of jogging will be filled with determination. Each two minutes of walking will be full of celebration.

Our eyes will be on the prize as the finish line approaches. The sea of blue (or lake or pond or puddle, depending on the number of participants) will pick up the pace a little and crash against the shoreline as one and the race will be complete! (sorry for the water metaphors but we are sure to be sweaty)

We break out into loud cheers at our accomplishments and head off to Subway to continue our celebration! After lunch everyone heads home for a shower and probably a nap!


I got an e-mail from the event coordinator over the weekend and guess what??

Online registration is now available HERE!

You should begin WEEK ONE of the training on Monday, May 19th.

You will be following the 5k Walk/Jog schedule FOUND HERE.

WEEK ONE will require just one hour of your time, split up throughout the week into three twenty minute sessions. Not so bad, right? If you are a list maker or a schedule oriented person, I encourage you to pencil the time in NOW so that you already have it planned.

I encourage you to find a partner to train with. It could be a co-worker, a spouse, a sibling, whatever. I would love to meet old and new friends on race day morning. You could also find a virtual training partner on here.

What do I mean?

Say Cheri says she is going to train on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Those days just happen to work for you, too. Swap numbers and check on each other.

For those of you who really want the accountability, feel free to e-mail me and give ME your number. I won't hound you but I will definitely commit to checking up on you!


On Friday I will be announcing another contest! ARE YOU READY????


Challenge:

Do some light stretching right now. Don't be agressive. Touch your toes. Reach both arms in the air. Feel your body getting ready to train!