the problem with FoMO

Let's start at the beginning of the year, 2016, I was taking a bit of a forced "off season" which I desperately needed.  Like several of us runners, I used this time to reflect my previous year and started planning my 2016 season.  There were a few changes I wanted to make, train more and race less, stay consistent, and avoid injury.  

Stacey and I entered the inaugural Ultra Monte Rosa in Italy September 2, 2016 and both of us got in :)  Our awesome sponsor, the North Face Canada offered to support us!!

I had raced in France in 2015 and realized I needed to learn a few things that would help us running in the mountains in Europe, such as how to use poles.  The Europeans are pole masters, getting them in and out of packs while running up and down technical terrain.  So Stacey and I decided we would work on using poles and quicker feet on technical terrain.  

Lets fast forward to May 2016....The race season has started, the weather is amazing and feels like summer already.  It seems everyone is racing, signing up for races or making plans to travel to amazing training camps.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but what about my great early season planning?? Why am I so tempted to jump onto Ultra Sign Up only to become a race junky again?  This hasn't served me well in the past, I've raced overtired, overworked and undertrained enough times to know better.  I've even tried to enter a "race just for training" but really who am I kidding??

Stepping back from the hype and excitement around early races and sticking to the plan is the best thing for me.  I have incredible local trails, last week my tempo run looped through a winery and along a beautiful path beside Okanagan Lake.  I have Knox Mountain 5km from my house for hills, the Greenway and several mountains nearby for training, and friends wanting hours on the trails.  So I've decided to keep going with the plan, get some poles, train, and when September 2 rolls around, I won't be sidelined or missing out!!

~ got to run