Quarter of the Way

Pre-race day. I should have gotten a good night's sleep, rested, been all packed up and ready by now. But since I'm disorganized and a procrastinator, plus I can't ever seem to get to bed on time, instead I got about 5 hours sleep, hit snooze three times and ended up rushing out the door to get to the pool. I arrived at 9 and planned one hour of what I hoped would be confidence-boosting practice.

I did a slow warm-up and then started a series of attempts to swim without breaks. I began with 100 yards and worked my way up to 200. I figured if I could do 200 comfortably, I might feel a little better about tomorrow since it's close to half the distance I'll need to cover. I did 200 and decided I could do more so I planned to add two more lengths. But then after two, I felt I could do more so I kept going. I made it 18 lengths without stopping, the equivalent of .25 miles. I was so happy and so relieved. This is the best day I've had swimming yet. And amazingly, I didn't feel like I was going to drop over afterward. If I hadn't gotten the help with my breathing last week, there is no way I could race tomorrow. Last Thursday, I still could only do two lengths without taking a break. I can't believe how quickly I was able to improve.

I stopped by JackRabbit, otherwise known as the perpetual hole burning in my wallet, to pick up some basics - a race belt, a box of GU, some CO2 refills. But as I walked into the store, something shiny and magical caught my eye - the new Garmin Forerunner 405. A beam of light was shining down on it from above and I swear it called out my name. I walked over, the guy took it out of the case, I took one look and I was sold. I have been wanting this for months and haven't been able to find one. If I didn't have the race tomorrow, I would have put it on and gone for a run. Instead, it is waiting patiently to be put to the test during my brick workout on Sunday. I can't wait.

I'm still not ready for the race tomorrow. I need to organize all my transition stuff and plan what I'm wearing. But of course, I'm headed out first for a pre-race drink to calm the nerves. I'll do my best to go to sleep early, but with a 4 a.m. wake-up, I doubt I'll get much rest. I never sleep much before a marathon and I've never had to worry about drowning during a marathon so I imagine it will be a long night. But don't worry, mom. I won't actually drown, my wetsuit will keep me afloat. The only thing that can be significantly hurt tomorrow is my pride. But I'll give it my best and see what comes of it. Stay tuned for the race report.

Sport - Swimming
Distance - 1800 yards (1.02 miles)
Time - 1:00:00