Sleepless in Nova Scotia
As race day approached, this race director writes about sleepless nights and the pre-race nightmares she's had in the past.
As we get closer to Maritime Race Weekend, there are nights where I will lay awake for hours thinking of all the things left to do before race day. My husband is used to the glow of my cellphone breaking the darkness in our bedroom, as I send myself multiple email reminders for the morning.
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When I eventually fall asleep, I have bizarre dreams about work where I’m at the start-line filled with excited runners. I turn around and see hundreds of volunteers staring at me, confused and waiting for instructions. I realize that I forgot to assign them to positions and nothing is ready. Another dream I’ve had: runners are crossing the finish line and I only ordered three veggie trays as post-race food for thousands of runners. Luckily, the dreams aren’t realistic. When I wake up, usually I have a good laugh about how ridiculous they were.
But last September, I wasn’t laughing.
I woke up abruptly from a deep sleep, short of breath and in a panic it because it was 7:00 a.m. I thought that I had overslept. I woke my husband and asked him if it was race day. His response: “Seriously!? The race was five days ago.” Clearly, I needed a vacation.
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The other morning, I got up at 4:15 a.m. I couldn’t sleep. I’m excited for race day to get here. With all the new features added this year, I wonder: have I missed something? It’s bizarre how darkness brings such confusion. My imagination can run wild. But when the sun rises, the reality is that everything will be fine and we are on schedule.
It usually takes about two weeks after Maritime Race Weekend for me to recover from being sleep deprived. When it’s all said and done, I’m looking for to taking time off this winter.
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