run this amazing day

This photo (taken by the poet at the practice swim) might actually encapsulate this blog as an entity. Puppy, ass, and this amazing day (tattoo peeking out). Race recap tomorrow!  Or the next day!  But soon!

I'll be back with a full recap, but the short version is that my day went almost - but not exactly - but almost as planned.  Some great successes....and some troubleshooting to do moving forward.  The poet always jokes that if you don't cross the finish line and go straight to the medical tent, you haven't left it all out there.   Start: Finish:

And in a surprise twist that shocks both of you the universe, I have no goals for this race.  But t hat doesn't mean I don't have a plan. When I was out in Colorado visiting, we spent Friday night eating and talking about a lot of things, in particular racing.  And Michelle said something that has really stuck with me this past month.  She told me how, a few years ago, she had been struggling to execute on race day despite being really ridiculously fit and all the while she was talking, bells were going off in my head.  The magic puzzle piece, the sprinkle of fairy dust, the lesson that she finally learned was to get out of her own way.  That's what has been going around and around in my head, that was repeated to me over and over by Sonja in her response to my race plan, and if I had one goal for this race, it would be that.  To stay out of the way, out of my OWN way, and just let my body do. I do understand that fitness doesn't equal speed.  I don't believe

1. I'm trying to completely ignore the fact that I'm racing this weekend (spoiler: I'm only being partially successful, as seen below).  I have no idea where our hotel is, or where the expo is, or even where my bike shoes are right now.  I haven't done laundry or pulled out bags to pack stuff in or put all my nutrition into separate plastic bags.  I know that everything I need is inside this house - and more importantly, inside me - and it will all end up in the car tomorrow morning somehow.  As long as I have my bike and know which way to wear the helmet ( pending ), I'm pretty sure it will all be just fine. 2.  My pre-race nervous breakdown arrived just as scheduled Tuesday morning in the form of an email to my coach filled with anxiety and run-on sentences.  She pulled me back from the ledge with a shepherd's hook and I've spent most of the past two days not thinking about the race (honestly).  But what I took from our conversation, other than I need to