My Wierd Rituals

It is quite common that athletes have superstitions or rituals that they do before a big day, like a song they have to listen to, lucky socks or they have to get ready in certain way.

I have these "rituals" that I have to do before I run a race either in cross country, track or one that is set up by the city. I believe that if these "rituals" have not been filled then I will have a bad race and not hit the time I wanted.

My "rituals" usually start the day before the meet. When I get home from school I work out with my Pilates DVD. This is one ritual that I will probably never change because it has been proven by me that when I do Pilates the day before I always run better in my race than when I didn’t.

My second "ritual" is what I have for supper the night before a race. I always have some kind of pasta whether it’s spaghetti or chicken and noodles. For the sauce I have what I call my special sauce. It’s a locally made pasta sauce that I first tasted at the farmers market named Galassi Pasta Sauce. Then for the side I have steamed broccoli with ketchup. Some people may think it is gross but trust me it is delicious. For dessert I use to have to have some kind of lemon like lemon pudding, pie or bars. That started last spring during track season when I had my best time in an 800 race and the day before I had a slice of lemon pie. Now I have been considering having something with apples for desert, even better if they are off our tree since I improved my time last Tuesday and I had apple crisp for desert.

My eating “rituals” begin again about an hour before I race. I usually have a raison bagel with peanut butter (lots of it) and peanuts on top. Delicious! I use to eat sport beans, which are basically jelly beans but they are supposed to give you "more" energy. I am thinking of changing that though because they don’t seem to be working for me.

These routines that I do before a race can change depending on if I got a better time without them or not. Like the sports beans for example, I didn’t take them one meet and I got the best time I had all year. I know these sound a little weird and my family has put up with my eating habits but at least I am not wearing the same dirty socks all season like some athletes do.