Week of the race

Since I max'd out the week before, I was debating on doing nothing or tapering that week since I was really tired. Opted to just do nothing! (gulp!) It was a big risk, but I know I'll learn from this mistake in the future.

Took Thursday and Friday off to prepare. I thought of nothing but the race the whole week. Even took time off the meetings because of it. I told myself, I'll have more time to focus on recovery after the race.

THURSDAY:
Decided to go to a local beach to do a mini dry-run. Did like a 100-yard swim (the waves were kicking my butt, so I quit fighting it!). Did like a 5-mile bike ride, and a 2-mi. run. Now I felt more confident doing SOMETHING at least.
Packed my stuff that night and went to bed still thinking...

FRIDAY:
Headed out around 9 AM and went to get my packet. Got there and saw booths set up with tri gears. I was a bit intimidated yet excited being introduced to the culture. Met a quiet guy by the registration stairs waiting for it to open. Come to find out it was his first triathlon as well. His name is David, a chemist from San Diego. We almost had the same amount of training and the same age. And we were both scared!
After getting our packets, we decided to go through the bike route in my car since he said he hasn't ridden it yet. He checked out the map while I drove.
We had butterflies in our stomachs going through the hills. And remember the canyon my friend commented on? (check last blog) HE WAS RIGHT!!! It was the other way...uphill on a curve! I was sweating cold at that point.
Dropping him off in his car, I checked-in to the motel asking myself if I could actually do this.
Instead of worrying, I just prepared my gear lay-out for the transition on the motel floor. Took a short bike ride to stretch and then grabbed a burger meal for dinner.
Lost a lot of sleep just worrying that night. Prayed like I haven't done in a while. Woke up at 2:00 in the morning and just talked to my friend about my worries.