it's happened again . . .

I'm too excIteD to sleep.

This used to happen to me all the time when I was younger. Now on special occasions, I still lay awake in bed, eagerly awaiting the sunrise.

I can remember one particular night in Grade 3. Our family was leaving for a bike camping trip on the Gulf Islands for a couple days. I was super excited because my Dad and I were going to leave early on our bikes to the ferries so we could meet my Mum and brother. (I still get excited for extra riding.)

I remember lying in bed preparing for the weekend, dreaming about the riding, admiring my clean, freshly tuned Norco Mini-Mountaineer with the official BEAUTIFUL STEPHEN COLUMBIA license plate. I was comfortable in the top bunk at an insanely early hour. I lay listening as my parents made the final preparations with camping gear.

The way it worked was my Dad loaded up one of those baby carrier bike racks with tents, stoves, pots, tools, sleeping bags etc. That was the great equalizer. I remember being excited to carry some of my own gear on this trip. I also remember needing to zig zag up the steep hills. The climb out of Fulford Harbor was particularly steep with cool legs fresh off the ferry.

I was basically always too excited to sleep before a weekend of ski racing. Especially the night before we would leave. Once there training and in race mode, sleeping was no problem.

Now, it's the night before our first race of 2008, he Prairie Inn Harrier's Pioneer 8K. Now, after a night of tea, heat liniment, ice, elevation, and a little Yoga, I'm just about ready to slow down.

The plan for tomorrow is a fast start, fast 5K split, and hang on. Just like that.

Today we did some strength testing, buoy swimming (fun), and EZ riding with a brief run.

There are two extremely cool things I will have been wanting to write about for a little while . . . maybe tomorrow.

In the mean time, CHOOSE TO BE.

rest well.