Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Lucky Thong


I am not a particularly superstitious person. Ok unless you include the lucky thong. Yes, I’ve debated on whether on not to let you all in on my little secret. But, what the hell. I’ve worn the same pair of underwear for every race since Sequoia (my first 50k) and yes, I do wash it (I am not that crazy). I find it funny that we often put more faith into something other than ourselves when our own hearts, minds, and bodies hold so much strength. I put a great deal of faith into one small piece of fabric. Come race morning, I know which pair of undies are to be worn. No debate.

Alright so now that I’ve broken the big secret and you all know about my lucky thong, hopefully I can keep your attention. At this moment, I have exactly a week until Miwok. Shit! I am getting the same stomach dropping from nerves and excitement that I got pre-Way too Cool. My question is when do you suddenly wake-up and go hey I want to run 62 miles? Hmmm…the first time I heard about the Miwok 100k was in Trail Runner magazine. As soon as I read about it, I wanted to do it. So last year, I put a star on my calendar for registration day. But being my typical self, I was out the door and running when I remembered it was the day to sign-up. Of course, it was full by the time I got back. Two weeks before the race, I got an email saying there was space. But there was no way I was prepared to run Miwok in 2008. I didn’t even have a lucky thong yet.

On a more serious note, I am really looking forward to this race and I’ve been really looking forward to it since 2008. Now that I have seen the whole course I am equally excited. On Saturday April 18th, I did a 40 mile section with Will. We started at Rodeo Beach and then went 3 miles past Pan Toll and then turned around. At mile 32, I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich. For sure it made a difference in comparison to the pervious week’s 40 miler. No crying, no walking, and I was eager to run 28 miles the following Tuesday, which started at Randall Trail to Pan Toll and back.

More to come after to Skyline to Sea 50k this weekend…

13 comments:

Luis Velasquez said...

Ha Ha... This cracked me up.. Lucky indeed I'll be volunteering at skyline to the Sea.. I know you'll be at the front. It is going to be sweet.. yay!!

You are Trail Queen indeed. :) :)

willgotthardt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave - Atlanta Trails said...

I have a lucky pair of underwear, too! However I don't wear it to races. Boxers during races...not comfy.

Looking forward to meeting you on Sunday!

David Ray said...

Nice pic even if there is no thong visible. Best of luck this weekend! I'm looking forward to another good report.

bjs said...

love this .... what a great spirit you are .... your mom.....

Gary Robbins said...

Good Luck at Miwok, don't forget the lucky undies! Go easy on Nicola G, she's hoping for top three although I'm not sure she can run Western at this point anyways. Would you run Western if all goes well?
GR

Nicola Gildersleeve said...

Good luck on your race this weekend. I wish I could of come down to San Fran to have run some of the course already, I heard it's so beautiful!

Victoria said...

I think you should make bumper stickers that ask, "Got your lucky thong?" Or a t-shirt that says "I got my lucky thong-- out of my way, b****es!"

Hope today went well-- I'm assuming it did. I SWEAR I'm going to call you tomorrow-- and I will definitely see you next Saturday.

Luis Velasquez said...

Congratulations on the Race this past weekend Caitlin.. That lucky thong is really lucky huh?

:)

David Ray said...

Wow. Congrats on another win! Looking forward to details again.

Gretchen said...

Ha! I love this post. So that's your secret. Where can I get one of these lucky thongs?
Good luck at Miwok!

Baldwyn said...

I kind of wish you named this blog "The Thong Remains the Same" but that's just because I'm a sucker for a bad pun. Found my way here via Mark's blog, great stuff, thank you!

Suzanne Halekas said...

We need to talk about this lucky thong and where I can get one. I need more than luck, though. Perhaps mine could be a magic thong.