It's Race Week

So, this is race week! Yes, this Saturday, I'll be doing my second triathlon in Springfield, IL. It's hard to believe it's only been 5 weeks since I did my first, and it's somewhat harder to believe that after that, I decided to keep going, but I have. I wish I could put into words exactly what it was like to do the triathlon last month, but it's so hard. There were so many emotions that went through my head as I completed it. I do remember one thing though - I remember as I was doing the 5 mile run at the end - I remember thinking many times "why am I doing this"? and also thinking "there is no way I will do this again"! But, somehow, once I crossed the finish line, regained my ability to breath normally, and ate the largest amount of pancakes and bacon I had eaten at one sitting in many years, I somehow found myself signing up for TWO more triathlons, and also opting for a longer race! Seriously!? I'm sure this was pretty much exactly what Julie was thinking too. But, after a couple days rest, I pushed back in and kept going. This past weekend, I did a dry run, and was excited to really see progress in my work. The triathlon I did in June was a 500m swim, 22 mile bike ride and 5 mile run. The one I'm doing this weekend, and the one I'm doing in August are both Olympic distance triathlons - a .9 mile swim (1600m), 24.6 mile bike ride and a 10K (6.2 mile) run. Also, I'll be doing an "open water" swim in a lake instead of doing the swim in the pool. Most people think that the "open swim" is tougher, but I've really found that I enjoy it. Perhaps it's my Camp Highlands roots, but swimming in the lake seems much more normal. Anyways, race week carries a lot of emotions for me. The hardest part though, is "tapering". For those of you who don't know, when you do a longer race like a triathlon or marathon, instead of pushing your training up to the very end, you taper, so that your body has time to rest up for the event itself. It's somewhat frustrating and somewhat against what you would expect. Resting before a big event is hard - your mind feels that you should be training hard. So the taper in and of itself is mentally challenging. You have to put faith in the training you've done, and not try and do the work yourself at the end. A challenging idea, and an idea that really represents my faith as well - understanding you can't do it on your own, and trusting something you really can't tangibly see. It's not a perfect analogy, but the similarity is there. Added to the "taper" emotions are simply the emotions of doing a triathlon - something that was not on my radar or in my vocabulary less than a year ago, and you get the perfect storm of excitement, nerves and everything else. It will also be fun as I'm going to get to see someone from high school - another friend of mine that I've reconnected with through this stuff. The friendships that have been rekindled, and the new friendships that I've created have been such an encouragement and a source of excitement. So, here I go - into another adventure. I have no clue how I'll do - I could end up last, but knowing that I'll be able to tackle it and do my best is quite a bit of excitement in it's own way!!