Revelation

I did in a short brick Sunday afternoon and felt great.

I had a great swim Monday morning. I felt stronger the longer I was in the pool (a rare occurrence).

I had a good ride on the bike yesterday, and although the freakin wind blew almost the entire time, I felt like I could have run well afterwards.

A funny thing has happened and it's just now beginning to sink into my thick skull. The moment I removed the pressure of achieving a specific time at the race was the moment I started feeling better about the race. I began looking forward to my workouts, had more energy, and was once again looking forward to the event.

Each set back during the last five months, whether it was injury or illness or something else, put more and more self-imposed pressure on me to work harder to get to the goal I'd set for myself. Before I knew it, I was in a major funk and didn't really know why. I'd begun to wonder if I should even do the race. Then, in desperation, I threw out my time goal and vowed to simply finish the race and have fun. After all, this would my his first half Ironman. Why shouldn't I take my time and enjoy the day. Suddenly the pressure began to melt away. VIOLA!

I wish I would have had this revelation months ago instead of days ago. If I had, I probably would have reached my goal time anyway.

I've begun to assemble all the stuff I intend to take on my excursion to the gulf. I've made a list and checked it twice and will check it many more times before packing it all into the J-mobile and heading south.

4 days...