Race #10 - coming up - Tri Latta Sunday June 14

Here comes another Triathlon! This one holds special memories for me as it was my first ever Tri, and it was also with TnT two years ago. Half mile swim, 17 mile bike and 5K (3.1 miles) run. I will no doubt quadruple check my bag - although I have already started packing it - before hand.

For this event two years ago, our honored patient hero was Liza Bourg, whose father continues to race for TnT - in fact - he just did Fletcher Flyer (another century ride, here in NC) last weekend - and did the Statesville Sprint Tri (Race 7) with me in May. He's an awesome guy and his wife and daughter are amazing as well. Liza got to be an extra in an American Girl movie (the Kit Kittridge movie) as part of the Make A Wish Foundation. She - like so many of the honored patient heroes is such an incredible girl. Full of life, spirit and energy. I'll be thinking of her and all our honored patients during the race. Our honored patient hero for this event is Doug Wagner, who was also our hero for Tahoe. Doug is a great guy - 5 years cancer free, who competes in these events with us. I believe he is thinking about doing the Disney Marathon with us in January - which will be about event 25 or 30...we shall see.

Admittedly - the swim makes me nervous. I KNOW I can cover the distance - not quickly - but I know I can. I have this really weird habit in open water of apparently thinking I have gills and can breathe with my face / head in the water. Doesn't work well. The only thing I have connected it to is the swim cap. We have to wear swim caps to ID which wave we're in, they're different colors. Of course - most swims in pools, I don't wear one - no hair to clog the drain...and I swear because of that, I don't feel the water on my head, get nervous and wind up swallowing some lake water...yummy.

To remedy this, I did my own open water swim last night in the lake behind our community - which is not only the lake we'll be swimming in - but also the drinking water for Charlotte. So in order to prepare for the breathing underwater I wore my swim cap as well as during my past two pool swims...both went - ha ha - swimmmingly.

Race starts at 6:30 AM on Sunday. When (note not IF) all goes well, I should be done a little after 8 AM.

More later - thank you everyone for your support! GO TEAM!

Tri Prep always freaks me out

For those of you who aren't familiar with preparing ones gear for a triathlon... here's a synopsis

Go to packet pickup to get your numbers for your helmet, bike and for the run. Return home, pull out your travel bag of choice - some folks have a tri bag, which is a big backpack with all sorts of nooks and crannies for shoes (cycling and running), sunscreen, spare tubes and Co2 cartridges, gloves, sunglasses, hats, fuel (power gels and clif bars - kind of like hi-tech granola bars), pockets for water bottles, a wet dry bag to keep clothes in for after the race, deodorant (necessity also afterwards) and a secret bottom compartment really designed for swims that allow wetsuits, so you can store your wetsuit afterwards without soaking everything.

There are multitudes of checklists - of which I have one - that I follow - but invariably - I check my packed bag three, four, ten times the night before.

With tomorrow being my first tri of the season and the 40 in 40 - tonight has been no different.

Getting to packet pickup was a bit of a stressor tonight - b/c the main interstate to get to the race (which is an hour north of home, and I was at work) was a parking lot...always is on Friday nights - but was worse because of a few accidents.

Why do people always slow down to look at accidents - especially if it is APPARENT it was barely a fender bender? Come on now....but I digress.

Got there and got my stuff - then came home to set up. Picked out my race gear - will be proudly sporting the TnT tri suit - GO TEAM!!! tomorrow and packed the bag.

Now tri suits are a combination of cycling shorts and shirt, but slightly different than regular cycling gear - the shirts have no sleeves, and are slightly tighter fitting than a cycling jersey, the shorts have the much needed chamois for dryness and the essential padding. On the right athlete - they can be very flattering...note - the right athlete. Thank goodness tomorrow isn't a fashion show.

After bag check # 3 so far - I can proudly say that I am packed and ready to go tomorrow. After several more checks...

Wayne Bourg - a fellow TnT'er and also - who is doing Tri Latta in a month as his SECOND tri - tomorrow's his first - will be there - ironically - he is # 201, I am # 202 - so we'll be in the same bike rack (they organize bikes by number so you can find it after the swim a bit more easily) and he jumps in the pool immediately before me - this is a pool swim tri vs open water - where they send you off one right after another. Open water tris send you off in waves based on your age group..this is based on estimated time for the swim. Tomorrow is his first tri...he's gonna rock it.

So - off to eat, hydrate and get to bed. Will let you know how this turns out - and We get to ride 60 miles on Sunday.