Day of rest

Rest days are hard.  Mine is today.  I know that resting is good and that it is necessary.  However, when you have so much forward momentum, it is difficult to stand still for a while.  Especially when standing still for one day can quickly turn into two days or a week or a month or more.

I've spent some time today going through beginner triathlete race reports on their first tris.  Not sure how good of an idea this was, but I did pick up on some commonalities in the reports.  I'm guessing that since so many of these newbie triathletes experience these same things, the odds are in my favor that they will also happen for my first triathlon:

1. I will get no sleep the night before the race.
2. I will feel inadequate before the race while setting up my transition spot (is that even what it is called??) because of the much cooler, better bikes.
3. I will feel inadequate while waiting for the swim because everyone else will be wearing a wet suit and I will have on shorts and a tank.
4. I will panic and nearly drown during the swim.
5. I will swim off course and have to make my way back to a buoy thereby adding unnecessary distance to my race.
6. I will be disoriented while running into Transition #1.
7. I will be passed by far too many people on the bike course.
8. I will nearly (or definitely) fall unclipping my shoes from my bike.
9. It will be impossible to get my legs to move coming out of Transition #2.
10. I will be passed by far too many people on the run.
11. I will finish with a smile and a sense of accomplishment that I have not felt for a very long time.
12. I will wear my finishers medal with extreme pride.

If #'s 1-10 are what I need to get through to get to #11-12, I'll take it all!