As you all know by now, I don't race at all. But I feel your pain!

I have several large projects and trips that I complete every year. By the end of the biggest project, I'm enmeshed in a deadly love/hate relationship with it, and I'm so worn out! One year an ovarian cyst burst in my abdomen at the exact moment that I handed out the last trophy of a tournament, which signaled the very end of my youth baseball season! Then the next week I spend it all depressed and unable to get out of bed. Same thing with big trips--I'll be gone the whole month of September (as usual) and in October I'll be a basket case.

It's a loss of focus, as well as the anti-climax that happens after any goal is reached. There's a vacuum in my life, with nothing to fill it. I'd say it is pretty normal. I need that rest time, too, to get ready for the new season or the next trip. Then the preparation starts all over again.

I guess if you never stop training (working towards the goal), you might never experience that letdown? I always NEED the rest, though.

Karen