One week.  It's been one week since that fateful missed turn.  Over the week, I have done a lot of meditating and mulling and musing about the reason for that missed turn.  I still am not sure of the "why."  I am not sure why I was not supposed to win that race and set a course record that would have been nearly unbeatable.  I have gone over every second of that race from the time I started until the time WG made his fateful remark.  What did I miss (aside from the obvious turn)?  I don't have an answer yet, and maybe never will.  However, there are some lessons to be learned from this whole thing.  So here we go:

Lesson 1)  Know where you are going.  All the preparation in the world counts for nothing if you don't know where you are going.  Even if you have been there before, review the map.  You can meditate and visualize and work until you are blue in the face, but without a clear path to the finish line carved out in your brain, you will be at the mercy of the course.

Lesson 2)  Don't blindly follow the leader.  Regardless of the fact that he was the reigning three-time men's champion, he missed the turn too.  Keep your head up and your eyes alert.  Even leaders make mistakes, so when a mistake happens, be ready to correct it rather than blindly following along. 

Lesson 3) Take time to listen to the voice in your head.  Looking back, I swear I heard someone shout "Hey!" around the time we were probably missing the turn.  I looked around but didn't see anyone so just kept going.  Had I taken an extra second, I may have seen the road we should have taken. 

Lesson 4)  Follow Robert Frost's advice about the road less traveled.  That was literally the road we should have turned on.  It was a much smaller dirt road than the one that we were on.  Instead, we stayed on the main, wide dirt road. 

Lesson 5)  Look for success and lessons, even when you fail to meet your goals.  I had very specific goals for myself in this race.  I did not meet my cycling goal time.  I did not meet my overall goal time.  I did not set a new course record.  I did not take first place.  i DID beat my running goal time by 2 full minutes.  I DID take second place in women's, even with going four miles out of the way.  I DID finish only four minutes behind the women's winner, and a mere two minutes behind my record setting pace from last year.  I DID only miss my overall time goal by five minutes, with four extra miles of cycling.  I DID train for the race perfectly, as well as fuel during the race perfectly. 

Lesson 6)  In the grand scheme of things, it's small.  Tiny.  Miniscule.  No sense dwelling on it.

Even with the lessons and the successes, I struggled this week to find my fire.  Training so hard for so long and then not getting the results that I had worked so hard for was rough.  I admittedly was being a bit of a baby about it.  When Saturday rolled around and it was time for my group ride in Hamilton, I almost didn't go.  I am so glad I did.  It was exactly what I needed.  Getting back on the proverbial horse.  Fast Guy even went easy on me (mostly).  The longer we rode, the more I could feel the pieces of the race falling off of me.  It was cleansing.  My legs felt good.  My lungs felt good.  And finally, my head felt good.  My fire is back. 

Tomorrow I will go for my morning run, and I am excited about it.  I am already thinking about the next event that I want to do.  I have not yet decided on what it will be, but it will be something.  Whatever it is, you better believe that I WILL NOT MISS A TURN!!!!