I found out that there are over 700 people racing on Sunday! This race is bigger than I thought! It's good because I'm less likely to finish last...but that also means there are a lot of people fighting for space in the water and transition area. The race starts at 8 am with the sprint distance athletes going first. I'm one of the last waves to go in the water around 8:30 and I'm not sure how I feel about watching all of those people go in before me while I stand on the beach terrified! I've gotten a lot of great advice for calming myself down once I get in the water which is where I risk freaking out and letting my breathing get out of control (very uncomfortable feeling when swimming is all about rhythm and making the motions very fluid!). Hopefully I can channel all of those people durig the swim! I know that once I make it through the first transition on get into a rhythm on the bike that I will be ok. The weather will still impact my performance though. It's raining right now so that will get some of the heat and humidity out of the air. Sunday is still forecasted for 86 and sunny. That's still really hot but its certainly better than 96 that we hit yesterday! If the rain lets up tonight I'm going to go on a short bike ride to make sure everything is working (I had trouble with my pedal releasing properly earlier this week). I'm also going to lay out all of my transition gear to make sure I dont' forget anything. Less than 48 hours to go!

It's taper week! But that also means that the race is only 4 days away and I'm a ball of nerves. I keep telling myself that this is how I felt right before I did my first 1/2 marathon and especially right before I did my first full marathon but that doesn't seem to give me much comfort! Even though I know that I can do it even if everything goes wrong on race day, I'll figure it out and get to the finish line somehow, it doesn't make it any less scary! I'm not even sure what I'm most afraid of! I'm sscared for the swim but I'm also worried about being on my own for the bike and run. I'm pretty slow and there is a good chance that I'll be among the slowest competitors but since running is still not easy for me, I rely on having people running near me to keep me going. Luckily my coach and teammates will be around (probably finished!) as well as lots of family and friends so I know they will all be cheering me on from the sidelines. I am doing one last open water swim tonight and will probably go for a bike ride on Thursday or Friday. Unfortunately we are having record highs in the 90s right now so training outside is absolutely miserable. It is supposed to storm on Friday so hopefully that will bring the temperatures down. If it is 70 and overcast on Sunday morning, I will be a happy triathlete!! THANK YOU to everyone that has donated and supported me throughout my fundraising and training! It means so much and it has definitely kept me going over the last 5+ months of training!