 All right, we're ready to go. Number pin down. Boom, boom, boom. Making dinner. And kitchen. I guess a coffee. I know about all of you, but as soon as I make coffee, I usually put it in the microwave to make it extra hot. I like my coffee hot. What can I say? I like it hot. All right, everyone. We're getting ready to go for our Shake Out Run, three to four miles in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. I only brought two recovery tools with me, the Hyper Ice Viper 2.0 right there. The name's a little confusing. And then also, there's Joseph over there stretching. Say a little YouTube. Hey, YouTube. Actually, what did you bring for your warmup stuff? What's that ball over there? Oh, just a lacrosse ball. Yeah, so Joseph uses this lacrosse ball to roll out the feet and just get the feet nice and happy before the race. But then I also brought this rubber band for stretching out. So if my bag is small and I can't pack all of the recovery tools or warmup tools that I own, I would choose this vibrating foam roller and then this rubber band for stretching out. So like for Amsterdam, I'm gonna have to make some decisions for what I end up bringing. Actually, I might end up looking into a lacrosse ball, you know? Because I've got the foot log, but which I... You can just run by your local food. Right, exactly. Nice. Green trees. They are starting to, the trees are just starting to turn here. There's some red ones right there. Nice. It's gonna be a high of 60 degrees on race day. So that's a good temperature, really good temperature. So here's what's crazy, everyone. This is our first race of 2019 together. So our first race was canceled. Why? Yeah, I was injured for the GoPro games. Yeah. And I think we were gonna hop in. I think we were planning on at least three or four races in 2019 together. And so where are we going here? Yeah, we had to go all the way to New Hampshire to do a race together. We had to go all the way to New Hampshire to pull off a race. Hopefully the first of more in 2019. All right, now we're gonna go find the start. Gonna be a doozy, everybody. We're talking some good vert and some good, yeah, just some good vertical here. Pretty steep sections is what it looks like, like the pitch. All right, we made it here. Here's the map of the ski resort, Waterville Valley, right there. And the start is right over here. We're just checking out the course, walking it a little bit, and it feels like cross country, right? Yeah, grassy. Grassy, little lumpy. So you just gotta watch your footing. But it definitely is not, it's definitely not, you know, trails up a 14er. You know, if you don't have grass like this, this is gonna be good though. Look at that, it's awesome. It'll be interesting if it rains, that's for sure, tonight. Yeah, see, they just mowed this. And we're back from the shakeout. Oh yeah, we found this carriage trail. That's just, it was just immaculate. So beautiful. I was so enamored by the beauty. I forgot to grab my GoPro out of the backpack, so I didn't film any of the shakeout I was planning to, for all of you, but I forgot, just like the trees are changing, it was amazing, right along the river. Okay, we're gonna go pick up the packets, the bib numbers in a minute. But first, I wanna lay out all of my gear here on this bench, just to make sure you know the drill, that I have everything ready to go in the morning, so you don't even have to think. You just know it's sitting right next to your bed, you put it on, and you head to the start line. So I've got my sunglasses, got my shoes, got my watch, and then I'm gonna grab my singlet over there, and then yes, pin my bib number onto the singlet once we pick it up here in about 30 minutes or so. So, and I guess I'll just say right now, I'm running, these are the shorts I plan to use for the Amsterdam Marathon, the John G shorts that I'm loving, very comfortable, very lightweight, so I'm gonna be using John G, and then of course, one second, I'm gonna use my Solomon S. Lab Sense 7 SGs, these are the shoes, oh yeah, look at that, very, I think these are gonna be perfect. And I'm gonna talk about the course, so we did a little walkabout on the course, just a little one, just to see the footing, see what it's, you saw the grass, and so I think the SG is critical for the course tomorrow. And then the socks, I'm gonna wear Solomon socks, I love these socks, got a little bit of grip going on through the toe box, right beneath your toes, and then of course, my rabbit singlet, there it is, Seeg Beauty Work Card, and Love Each Other by Rabbit. Okay, I'm just gonna lay it out here for all of you. Here we go. How's it going? Good, how are you? Good. Are you running? I'm running Seth DeMore, I see, she's writing Seth on there, oh, there we go, perfect. Yes. What's your age group, Seth? I'm 34. So, okay, got it. Okay, sweet. Shout out to Jim, get him in the vlog. Yeah, watch his Rand Pikes Peak this year. 393, we're ready to rock and roll. Mackie's here crushing life, right? You got your run in today. Yeah, you did. Turn it to a walk. And here's your main little square, Waterville Valley. More cowbell. Ready to rock and roll. Bring this back for the boys, true love. All right, here we go, let's do this. Big number is pinned on, on the singlet, we are ready to go, just gotta fall asleep, wake up and go race. Okay, five points, five mental strategies or action items that I take before every single race. All right, here we go, let's dive in. Number one, calm mind, calm mind. I, if you've been watching a lot lately, you know that before a big workout, I listened to classical music and I definitely picked up this point from my college coach, Mark Wetmore, to staying calm, even at the starting line. Like I don't do cheers and rah-rah and dances or anything, like I just stay calm. And one of the reasons, practical reasons is to keep the heart rate low before the gun goes off but even the night before, like I was driving around in the car a second ago and I was listening to classical music, just chilling out, relaxing and staying calm and it just helps the mind and I turn off social media. You know, like for me, that's what I do, turn off the notifications on my phone and just enter into the moment and stay calm. So that's point number one, point number two is to dedicate or offer your race up for someone that you know and love. This helps so much when you go into the pain cave and you're hurting. So that's number two, offer the race up for a loved one because it just, you can lean into that love for whoever that person might be when you are struggling out there and you're like, okay, this really, really hurts. I'm gonna think of this person and offer it up for them. So that's point number two and point number three, inspiring words. That's right. I usually remember a quote in my mind at the starting line. Any, you know, you can look all over the place for inspiring quotes. Maybe you have a favorite author who has some really great quotes. I usually have one quote on my mind at the starting line just to lean into once again when it starts to hurt. Okay, so that's number three. Mental strategy number four, after the inspiring words, I think of practical words. So that's number four, practical or action item oriented words. So for me, it's always eyes up, pump your arms, quick feet. And you have to actually say it in that, for me in that order. And if I don't say it, and if I, not with verbal words but if I don't say it literally in my mind mentally, I won't do it. So I really have to focus. And that's where that laser focus in the actual race when you're hurting hard, hurting bad, you say it and then you actually have to, you have to take action. That's why it's an action item. So that's number four. Some sort of saying that you can repeat to yourself that actually creates a physical reaction in your body to do something different. If you are, and it's, for me, I like to focus on my form. So it's the eyes up, pump your arms, quick feet. So that's number four. And the fifth mental strategy that I use for a race is know the course. That's right, know the course as best you can. Today, we weren't able to get up the mountain of course. We wanted to save our legs, but we're studying the map, studying the elevation profile, studying the aid stations. So just know the course, try and really memorize it. Don't try, do memorize the course. That is the fifth mental strategy. It will pay off so, so much. If you know, okay, I've got a steep downhill here and it's gonna go right back up. And so maybe I need to just float this downhill and not crush it so I can save my quads for the next climb. So that is the fifth strategy, mental strategy that I use for a race every single time is know the course really, really well. So I hope those five points help you with some practical items, but also some, not philosophical, but a more emotional item. So emotional, practical, bring them together and go crush it and go crush it. All right, thank you all for being here. Question of the day, what is one or two points that you use for your mental strategy in your races out there around the world? I love you all, days have been here. All right, time to go to bed, wake up and go crush Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. All right, we're gonna toss it back to the running race playlist on the right. If you wanna watch a bunch of other races on this channel, check on that playlist on the right and on the left. We'll toss it back to the go pro games from earlier in the summer. All right, see you, work hard and love each other. See you tomorrow.