Close enough now to be a little nervous

Have I got everything?  Gels, shoes, bike , wetsuit aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Just some of the things that go through your mind as race day gets closer.  I cannot imagine how anyone can go through this and not get a little anxious.  One of the many things I have learned doing tri's is that even though we are different people, is that we all get nervous, we all get sore, we all get anxious.

At Playtri http://www.playtri.com/ we have great coaches.  I have learned a great deal from them.  One of the first things I learned from Ahmed was that in a race everyone is experiencing the same things.  At mile 10 of a run in a half ironman I get pretty sore.  Well guess what, everyone else is too!  After a 1.2 mile swim and a 56 mile bike and 10 miles of running how can you not be sore.  I may not be fast at this point but I am gutting out those last 3 miles just like everyone else.

What applies at mile 10, applies 5 days before the race.  We are all a little anxious about our preparations.  This is magnified when you are travelling to an event.  At a local race I was half way there and i realized that I forgot my bicycle pump.  I quickly went through a mental list of all my friends in the race and whether they would have a pump.  Then it dawned on me;  I am only 10 minutes from home and the race does not start for 90 minutes.  I turned around and drove home and got my pump.

Longhorn Tri is in Austin.  A little more than a quick trip from Dallas.  So if I forget something I cannot just turn around and go back.  Also I will be leaving from work on Friday which means I have to be packed and ready to go Thursday night.  But, this Thursday we are celebrating a friends return from Afghanistan so I will not have as much time to dedicate to packing,  Wednesday I work late.  So I pretty much have to be ready by Tuesday.  Holy crap that's today!!!!!!  I better get packing!

Not just "Wet suit, bike shoes, water bottles", We are going to be in Austin for 2 nights so I need regular clothes.  Nothing fancy but still something other than spandex.  Also, reading material to occupy spare time.  Lets not forget the laptop so I can update this blog.

Austin or Bust!!!