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!

Just over 2 weeks until the race! The original race would have been this weekend and part of me wishes it was this weekend! I'm ready to tackle this thing! It's been 6 months of non-stop training which is longer than I've trained for any other race. I'm in the best shape I've been in and I know that I'm more mentally tough so I know this race has been great preparation for my next challenge...the 2011 Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World. What better way to celebrate my 30th birthday than to do a 1/2 marathon on January 8 and a full marathon on January 9?? Anyways, this week has been SO hot! We had a brick workout on Sunday and I rode 23 miles and sucked down all of my water. After climbing some of the most ridiculous hills in Central Ohio, we were supposed to run hill repeats. My team made it up the hill once and then called it quits. It was just too hot. I even had to run on the treadmill at the gym this week because of the heat. We have a mock triathlon tomorrow morning so we can practice entering and exiting the water and setting up our transition areas. It should be interesting! There is only one more 6 am swim practice....and I'm certainly not going to miss those....and then it's taper week! The week before the race is about resting and keeping muscles loose. That might be the best part of any training program!!

WETSUITS! The wetsuits have arrived and we had our first open water swim yesterday. The team met at Alum Creek where the water is about 64 degrees right now. I'm a weenie when it comes to cold water so I was glad to have the wetsuit. It was pretty comical trying to get the wetsuits on but we had fun with it and helped each other out. I was starting to feel more comfortable with the swim distance but the open water swim knocked me down a few! It's amazing how much more difficult it is to swim in open water. You can't see anything when you look in the water so its very difficult to swim in a straight line (like I really want to swim any further than I have to!!) but you also have to deal with waves pushing you around. The cold water also takes your breath away and running into the water gets your heart rate up even before you start swimming. Luckily we are going to practice a few more times in the open water. I ran 7 miles today! That is only the 2nd time I've run that far and the 1st time I did it by myself. I had my ipod but it was still pretty boring. The biggest challenge was the humidity. I was dripping about a 1/4 mile into the run. I have always preferred winter training and humitidy does a number on my asthma but I still shuffled my way through it. I finished in 1:22 which is a little faster than previously. Slow and steady is going to finish this race....even if it's last! :)

I'm still chugging along with the training! It's been a busy spring so fitting training in is still a challenge but I'm hanging in there! I had a great brick workout over the Memorial Day weekend. The team met for a 30 minute swim followed by a 30 mile bike ride. We trained in a different pool that had more "traffic" causing the water to be a little choppy and we swam in circles really close to each other. We have gotten used to the calm early morning water of our usual training pool which won't help us on race morning! The coach also got in the water with us and was tapping our toes and swimming right on our hands to help get us used to focusing when there are other distractions/disturbances in the water. The 30 mile ride that followed was probably my best yet. I felt pretty comfortable even though we were on the roads and it was extremely hot. Usually I tighten my shoulders when we are on the road (the cars still make mer nervous) which makes my neck/shoulders/back hurt but the whole 30 miles felt great. The biggest problem I ran into was getting hungry. I'll have to work on my nutrition plan for the first transition from swim to bike. I'm still pretty slow at all 3 sports but slow and steady will get me to the finish line. Again, the goal is to not finish last but I guess I'd be ok with that as long as I still finished!

It's been a roller coaster of emotions this week week! We found out last week that the company that puts on the race, Fat Rabbit Racing, has gone out of business and the Fat Rabbit Triathlon is cancelled. Luckily we have several other options, though they aren't as ideal. It was difficult finding a race that offered both Sprint and Olympic distances because not everyone on the team has trained for the same distance. And after investing so much time in training for the Olympic distance, I certainly wasn't going to settle for doing the Sprint distance! We took a vote as a team and we are now doing the Caesar's Creek Triathlon on July 11. It's in Waynesville, Ohio, which is over an hour away so we will most likely have to stay overnight before the race. It's a little disappointing because I'm sure we won't have as many spectators out there but I'm just glad that we were able to find an alternative. For more infomation about the race visit: http://www.hfpracing.com/events/2010/caesar-creek-triathlon-duathlon We now have an extra 2 weeks of training which is not neccessarily a good thing. I'm exhausted from all the training but the extra 2 weeks will hopefully improve my times. My new goal is to just not finish last. :)

I am absolutely overwhelmed right now! Thanks to a post on Facebook yesterday stating that I only had $173 left to reach my fundraising goal, 3 amazing TNT alumni stepped up and pushed me right over my goal! Even though I've been involved with TNT for 6 years now, I continue to be amazed by the amount of support I receive for my personal adventures and for this amazing cause. We are getting so much closer to a cure because of the research made possible by the money raised. We had our Fall season kick-off party last night to welcome the new participants that will be training for the Columbus Marathon, the Nike Women's Marathon (in San Fran.) and the Nation's Triathlon (in DC). One of our honored patients, Leslie Taylor, who is a walk program alumni, spoke about her journey with ALL and her TNT experience. When the training gets tough and I'm exhausted, I have to take a step back and remember the bigger picture. I do this for people like Leslie who is here with us today, living with cancer and she is able to complete marathons. Thank you so much for all of your support. It means the world to me to have so many people in my life that care so much about me to go with me on this crazy journey and support me no matter what. There are less than 6 weeks until race day so be sure to stop back for the training updates and for information about the race!