League Meet Finale

The alarm went off at 3am, I'd packed up the
night before, so only had coffee to make and the
dogs to take out.
Front door opened at four and Bill popped his
head in and called out a Hello!
We were pulling out of the driveway five minutes
later and in Reading less than an hour after that.
This was a better meet for me than the one we
had two weeks ago.
Sure I was nervous, (will that ever change?), but
I wasn't sick at least.
Made sure my M3P was packed this time, and
plugged in early, using music to center me..
We'd planned to get to the rink in time to make
the "roll around", a slow pre-warm up, warm up.
This is every ones first opportunity to get a feel
for the newly coated floor and the interaction
between it and their chosen race wheels.
From the get go I liked how it felt. Noticeably tight.
Which means it will grip, and for me and most
people, grip is good.
Sitting on the sidelines I thought about my goals for
the morning.
First, it would have been nice to dump the anxiety,
but I also knew that some of that was due to the
previous meet, which had not come close to meeting
my expectations.
Butterflies.
You just have to embrace them.
Failure.
You have to embrace that too, then let it go.
Two 1000m races where first.
The first I considered a warm up, only about the
floor and me.
My goal here was to get really comfortable and
ride the track the way I've been taught and among
other things to keep my head down and forward.
Should I do an up start or a down?
Up.
I needed the practice keeping my set position stable.
It went decently, the first 6 laps went well, and I didn't
begin to noticeably fade till the last two.
Afterwards, I felt the race in the lower right side of my
back, but though concerned I let it ride and spent some
time stretching.
On the second start I slipped, and my first thought
was I'd blown it right off the gun. Later our coach, Bob,
told me that I slipped on the third step, something that
happens in the course of racing, like falling.
After this race there was a long enough break that I
could take my skates off before my remaining two
500's.
After getting something to eat it was time to boot up
and mentally prepare for the start line once again.
I pulled my M3P out of my skate bag, put the
small ear buds in their respective places and turned
up the volume.
OK.
The 1st one went very nicely :)
Much better than the last meets 500's.
I coulda, shoulda passed.
I didn't.
I was right on top of Julie L. who had the lead. In
fact, I had to put my hand on her back twice so I
didn't run her over.
I told her once, "I'm right here".
(Someday I'll get over that anti passing thing..)
Bob said, "you were so close it looked like you where
checking her for ticks!"
He wanted me to pass, of course, but I never heard
him call out once..not that I would have if I had heard
him..
I felt good on the floor in both fives, and was happy
to get back in a groove, one I can continue to build on.
Something that's cool is it doesn't feel so fast anymore,
it's no longer scary, it's becoming comfortable which
translates to being ready to move into uncharted
territory, to move into faster.
No doubt in any ones mind, including my own, that
I have made a good deal of progress over the last
year.
Huge thanks goes to my coach and team mates for
making that happen.
And to me, for showing up, not just to practice, but
to everything it signifies.

Count down:
6 weeks to Regionals.
10 weeks to Nationals.