R IS FOR REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION. The moment of truth. Before you register the race is just an idea, an I might do. Which means it's nothing. It also means if you're talking about it, it's just talk. Some might even call it BS.
I know this first hand.
This year I had planned to do the Whiskey50. But, and you might think this is weird, the closer the event got the less sure me going seemed to be. Right up until the week of the race, when I went to register and it was sold out.
Yep, I was that guy. A big, fat loser.
You can't win if you're not there. You can't PR if you're not there. If you aren't in the race, you're out... you're that guy, too!
Conversely, also on my radar was the Santa Barbara Road Race. I signed up 2 months in advance. In this case, the closer the event got the better I got. My diet was stricter. My training was better. It all fell into place and I had a great weekend of racing.
When you register magic happens. The sooner you register the sooner it starts. Your focus changes. It's easier to say no to distractions and yes to what moves you closer to your goal.
To make your registration more powerful, share it with the world. Post it on social media. In 2016, I blogged every week about a 200 mile bike race called LoToJa and how I was prepping for it. Trust me, when you put it out there it is like having a super power. It takes that initial registration and multiplies the goodness by a million.
But, the real pros... the ones who really know how to harness their ambitions, build a posse. My posse is my group of friends who I train with. Not all of the posse race the same races, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that the posse knows my plans, and I know theirs. The posse becomes like a board of directors. We share ideas and secrets. We plan rides to do. It's a whole other level of accountability and motivation and fun!
Yes, fun! In the end, the registration and the sharing and the posse are meant to bring a whole lot more fun to the racing. The racing is hard. It takes everything we've got. Keeping it fun carries us through the challenges and disappointments bound to come our way.
If we weren't challenging ourselves, if we weren't going for it, there wouldn't be any disappointment and there wouldn't be any growth. We'd be static at best, most likely going backwards in terms our physical abilities.
That is what Registration is all about. Finding out what we're made of and how far we can go.
What are you registered for?