Early morning riser

I'm typically an early riser, but this is ridiculous. 2:43am and I'm awake. I'll pay for this later. Hailey work up at about 1:20am, and I went in to see if I could help. The downside of that is, once I am up, I'm can't get back to sleep very easily. Also, my intense guilt won't let me go back to sleep when I know my wife is up with the baby. So, I'm hosed. The cat keeps wanting attention, and she is about to get launched. I'm usually a very caring and compassionate person, but not at the moment. Being nurturing without sleep is not one of my strong points.

No need for more Gloucester race reports. Short story for Sunday, I finished 4th. It is amazing the difference between third and fourth. While the other guys were on the podium, I was washing my bike. I could hear the call-ups to the podium as I'm trying to clean crud from my dérailleur pulleys. Nice. At least I got to see the crash in the Men's 3/4 race at the start. Nothing like scrapping metal to get your attention.

I was battling with another guy for third the last few laps, struggling to get his wheel, getting it, passing him, trying to drop him, trying to let him lead me out in the wind, then face-planting in the sand pit. Gotta watch those high-speed dismounts. I guess if you're not crashing, you're not trying. The other side of that is if you are crashing, you need better skills. I still keep running the last lap through my head. Gotta learn to let things go a little more.

The upside was everyone from the team hanging out and doing well, telling stories from their races. This is the great side of cross: the social and community nature. It has a different vibe from other types of activities. That's why you see such a strong on-line presence as well. Adam Meyerson had an interesting interview once about the virtual and co-located cross community. There is a lot to be said for it, and something people should experience more.

I was able to open the training back up after taking Monday off. Track work on Tuesday, with 1 mile and then 4 x 800. I dropped the last scheduled 1 mile. I figured 3 miles of speed work two days after Gloucester was good enough. Plus, cross practice tonight. I don't know what kind of shape I'll be in after 4 1/2 hours sleep, but what the hell. It's cross season.