Kind of like a birthday, but better.

Wet turf, a fine mist in the air, humidity to loosen up the joints and 2 hours of turf time. I must have been dreaming!
Practice last night was great and I put a lot of my mental training to work during training. I forgave my mistakes, I visualized and felt out "my power" and really put some force on the ball. I'm a bit disappointed in my pace, i.e. moving at my own pace when I felt the game around me was lagging. Other than that, some solid shots and a few nice jabs put me back on the map. I also felt some very nice looseness in the SI joints (that's you Mike!)

I hadn't quite hit the intensity I had wanted to this week, so I "exorcised" my demons by putting in one last HARD run session this morning so that I could get into my flow zone and crystallize some of that confidence into my mind. After today I will have one eaasy run this weekend and just keep eating and resting up for training camp on Monday. I made sure to stay true to my rest week, but I needed to push myself just once so that the feeling of overcoming would be fresh in my mind for next week. This morning I performed 35 minutes of various interval structures. I did all different paces, walk/sprint/jog/run combinations and just had some fun!

I've been working on my mental logs judiciously and hope that I can begin to overcome some of my limiting beliefs by putting more positive messages in to practice this season. I believe in myself, now I just need to make that belief a walking, talking reality.

On a completely unrelated note, I've had the most incredible send-off from my colleagues who caught me completely by surprise yesterday with a small goodbye party, complete with beautiful cupcakes made by Melanie (with fresh toasted coconut cream cheese frosting)..be still my beating heart! The card and flowers I was given brought my heart to a whole new level and made me feel so special and grateful for having been part of this team. The work has been challenging and the learning curve steep, but I have been honoured to work among such gifted, committed individuals. Now, as if this wasn't enough for my corny heart to soak up, I came in to work today (my last day) to find a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting on my desk. My kind friend and colleague, Alfred, baked me a gorgeous cake after I had casually mentioned my love, nay, my supreme devotion to carrot cake and cream cheese frosting! I can scarcely explain how full my heart feels today. I will miss these wonderful people the way perennials miss their petals.

If I find myself in doubt, come Monday.. or any day, I just need to fix this feeling in my mind and come back to it so that I remember that even at moments when it's hard to believe in myself, there are incredible people who do.

(Oh yeah, I also scratched the car and dented the garage door this morning.
Sawwee Mom?)

I just want to take this feeling, cut it up into little pieces of carrot cake and serve everyone I know and love a piece, so that everyone can experience how great it feels to be part of something really magical.