Starting To Lose It A Little…Ever Happen To You?

The Stress Of Packing

If you have ever run a race before, especially if you are traveling to one, you know that there can come some moments of anxiety as you get yourself ready. You are looking forward to the start of the race, you are checking to make sure you have everything you need, you are checking your race day clothes, laying everything – just doing what you need to for everything.

If you are traveling (and not running), the same thing goes on – especially for big trips. Checking everything you need, getting the things you know you cannot get while on the trip, making note of all the most important things – basically, just trying to make sure you are ready to go.

In both instances, there is a time when relaxation begins to set in. For the person on the trip, it is when you sit back in the seat of the car and airplane and you feel everything slowly relax. For the runner, believe it or not, it is after the starting gun goes off and you are about 1 mile into the 26.2 of the marathon.

When I travel, I have everything down to pretty much of a science. I can pack my carryon (the only bag I bring) in literally about 15 minutes and be ready to walk out the door. Most of my trips are only a day or two on the ground at my destination, so not a whole lot to worry about. If I am traveling for races, believe it or not, it is even easier. Race day clothes (which, by now for me, is pretty much anyone of the dozens of tech garments in my drawers), GPS, passport, wallet and that is really all I need.

Now, I’m Starting To Lose It A Little!

But, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I am actually beginning to lose it a little bit. Things that I, by habit, just put in the same place all of a sudden disappeared. Things that I need to pack and brought up to put in my bag have now gone missing. There were 5 different things today alone that I misplace/could not find.

See, all of those earlier scenarios I talked about really are crashing together in one for this trip. And they are being multiplied. You know how you feel packing and preparing to take a trip for a marathon? I am having to do that 6 times for this trip! Getting things you need and anticipating what you may not be able to find on the road? Yep! Especially since I will literally have about enough time in most of my stops to get from the airport to my chosen starting line, run the marathon run, grab my bag, and head back to the airport. Trying to find things along the way is really not going to happen!

Gone Missing!

One of the things I lost is my Bose SoundSport earphones that I use every single day! I put them in the same place every single day. But, today, I could not find them anywhere! Only after going through everything in my closet did I find that I put them in a pocket on a pair of pants?! Next up is my portable hard drive for backing up my photos and computer files along the way. Couldn’t find it anywhere! Looked everywhere! Where did I finally find it? In my bag, already packed! 🙂

One of the many other things that have disappeared was my Under Armour slides. I normally do not wear them but since my feet will surely be swollen, I wanted to wear them in between destinations. I cannot find them anywhere and I truly have looked everywhere this time! Oh well!

Passports? Got those, but almost forgot to get my electronic visa for Australia! GPS watch? Thankfully, that is something I wear all the time. Chargers? Got those! Now I just have to make sure I do not lose anything else between now and Sunday night.

I seriously never get this worked up about a trip but when you consider that I not only had to do the high mileage training to prepare for this (which is over now) but I had to book everything and now pack for 6 different 26.2 mile runs – it is a lot to handle! But, once I get on the first flight, hopefully everything will settle a little. Truth to be told, I will not truly relax until I have finished in Abu Dhabi and board the Etihad A380 First Apartment for the nice long flight to Australia. At that point, I will be halfway done and done with the hardest part. Not only that, but I will be headed to winter and have long flights in between each run. Until Monday at 3PM ET, I will probably still be a little stressed. 🙂

Has this kind of thing with travel/races ever happened to you? Or is it just me? At any rate, thanks for reading as just writing this helped me to calm a little bit! 🙂