T-minus 37 Hours.

Well my bags are packed, my bike is in three pieces in the back of my outback, awaiting a quick fitting change and lube job from Al at the bike rack. I did a quick 10 mile ride just to get some of the nerves out. ( Granted I decended one at the whopping speed of 5 mph because the shoulder has completely worn away and I happended to hit the road as everyone was getting out of work.)
Well anyway I decided to remove three months' worth of road grime from the thing tonight. ( I went through two hospital towels and a half can of WD-40). I figure once the wheels and drivetrain are re-lubed I should be golden. Plus I have a cable housing that needs to be fixed so I figure an hour detour at the bike shop to have this work done and pick up some GU and I'll be go to go. I'll probably hit the pool tommorrow, I figure a nice easy 1000 free to losen up before 3 hours at work, an hour at the bike shop and 3 plus on the road should be good, considering my boss scheduled me to work until 12:30, and most people will be on the road between 10 and 11 it's not really a bad thing. I seriously feel ready to kick ass. I mean I'm good to go. I'm psyched up, I'm tapered, I should have been in bed 20 minutes ago, but I feel great. All I can visualize is success. Yes I know I' ll finish, but I mean this race might suit my conservative biking style. Granted the bike is the longest part, and I only average about 15-17 miles per-hour on the bike, my legs still feel fresh for the run and that is where I make up time ( think Macca reeling in Stadler in Hawaii, just replace his 6:25 per mile pace with some more modest like a 7:30 or 8:00 pace and you get me.) Hell at Waramaug last Friday I slowed for a half mile patch of road paved in loose gravel, I watched the top three guys in my age group fly past and open up a lead. After a qiuck transition and somewhat slow opening mile I managed to reel in and pass all of them but my age group's leader ( he was 2 min. ahead) and one smart alec high school XC runner who took off out of transition died sprinting up hill then regrouped to sprint the last mile. I still managed to finish 37th overall after posting the 22nd fastest run split out of 200 finishers. With the longer run I feel more confident. Sure a couple of guys (90% of the field ) are going to be warriors on the bike and build up leads, but it will guys like me who will hunt them down and conquer the run. Ok now I'm starting to scare myself so I'm going to hit the hay and dream of half-iron man glory. Because even through I'm starting in the next to last swim wave, I know I'm going to be passing some of the elite men, and if I can do that then maybe I might have a shot of winning this thing....or at very least placing in my age group. So until next time keep buliding that lead because when I start running crazy shit happens.