Tip Tuesday - Race Ready with Flat Me

So this week for Tip Tuesday I have racing on my mind because this weekend I'm running the Hot Chocolate 15K Charlotte (see this post for more details). 

Anyway, race day can be pretty crazy. No matter how many times I race (I ran 21 races in 2018) and no matter the distance, I always get super nervous right before. And when you are super nervous, it is easy to make mistakes and forget things. So, to combat this, I am a firm believe in a Flat Me. 

My Flat Me for last year's Hot Chcolate 15K

A Flat Me is basically where you set out all of the gear that you are going to wear and use during your race and lay it out flat, arranged how it would be worn on your body. This gives you a good physical representation of all of your gear so you can see if you are missing anything. 

And when I say everything, I mean everything including stuff that you will carry in your pack as well. You don't want to get to the start line of a race and realize you are missing something. For example, let's say you get to the start of your Half Marathon and realize you have no gels on you. Trust me, this happened to me last month and it was not a fabulous realization. Luckily, there was a Fleet Feet Sports right at the Start (very lucky) but had I set out a Flat Me, which I usually do, but didn't for some dumb reason, I would not have had that problem. 

What about you? Do you do a Flat Me before your race? If not, how do you make sure that you have everything you need for race day?