8 dayz left....this is it!!!!...maybe i'll give up and buy a skate board instead?

this is a weird feeling.
i'm 8 dayz away from standing by the big peach, in lake okanagan waiting for the starting gun and 4 ironman canada to get underway. And u know what? i can feel my head hitting that water right now, and i know exactly what it's going to feel like. ....weird. and i'm okay with it....nervous, but okay....well, you know, nervous, nauseous, but okay...it'll be fine. i'll be fine.
of course i'm basing all these feelings on the great white north triathlon, and every triathlon i've done. i know, i know how nervous i am at the start of every race, and i know, i know how quickly that disappears as soon as my face hits the water and how quickly i can get into the moment, the minute....
i have to do that.this will be whole crew of people just having a fun day. 6+ hours of this at the great white north 1/2 ironman was so cool, so i'm thinking 15+ hours of the same thing should be, um, painful, but fun!...i'm looking forward to the ride up to yellow lake, i'm looking forward to riding back to okanagan lake, and running along skaha lake to okanagan falls.....or maybe walking to okanagan falls, that'll be fun too. it'll be a long long day, but i've had those before...and there'll be food and drink with me, the scenery will be amazing, there's aid stations everywhere, and i've got 17 hours, so i guess the plan should be to enjoy every moment of it.
but you know this a friends thing. i love doing this stuff with friends. it's possibly the only way i wanna do any of these races. i'm cheering as much as i am racing. it's the fun part.
yep, i can be a basket case, i always am anyhow, but the dayz, the hours, the minutes before a race, even more so. i over think everything, i start thinking about all the training dayz i missed, i remember how badly i've screwed up my diet, and yep, i never seem to remember how good the training i did went, and how much i loved every stroke, every moment on the bike, and the runs.
i have to keep telling myself, that nervousness, will go away as soon as i take my 1st kick, my first stroke.
the race will be the race, it'll be what it is, and as always, the swim doesn't bother me, the ride neither. i know i'll be finished both well before the cut off time, which will give me 7 or more hours to finish the marathon portion of the whole thing. i just don't know how i'm going to deal with the run....that's the big, huge question.
this year, i just have not been able to run, as well as i'd like, i'm injured a bit, but i've been keeping that to myself. so, 26.2 miles, 42K...well, i know i've got a plan to start with. walk the aid stations, and to go relaxed, laid back, take it easy, but definitley run. if everything goes well, if i do the nutrition on the bike right, if i hydrate, hydrate, and take my gels, use my salt tabs, keep the tums handy, i should be fine. but 26+ miles?...i know i can probably walk 26 miles in about 4:30....so as long as i don't completely cramp up, it'll be good.
now, packing...yikes, how much crap do i need? to swim, you need a swim suit, a wet suit, goggles, that should be it, to ride, a bike, a helmet, that's it, and for the run, a pair of running shoes, that's it.....so how come i have 3 bags full of stuff!...and i still have to buy a bunch of things in penticton, because i don't want to pack anything else into my car!....wow!...
oh well, it's all ready to go, i'm ready to go, and again, this will be all that it is. i leave with the family for jasper tomorrow morning, spend 3 dayz in jasper, ship the wife and kids by train back home on monday, and on tuesday morning i leave for the okanagan. ...oh well, at least i can spend a bunch of time on the beach....with friends....volleyball anyone?