“Yahoo – LET’S DO THIS” I just texted to Barb. We’re driving to PA each planning to arrive at Lake Nochamixon State Park around 1pm to pre-register and get the beginners run down on the course and what to expect. A rare sight – a fox – ran in front of our car as we left our house in CT. I’m taking that as a sign of a good luck.
It’s been a busy week as I had to travel to Toronto for 3 days on business and with Monday having been a holiday, the week flew by. My sole criteria for choosing a hotel was actually its proximity to the YMCA where I could swim! However, I woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat that gradually progressed to a mild summer cold. BUMMMER!!! I crowd sourced on Facebook the best remedies for quick recovery. Emergen C and Zinc were the #1 answers. I threw Zinc pills into my bag as I left for the airport. A colleague I was travelling with had a packet of Emergen C. Upon arriving, I promptly found a Canadian pharmacy but they did not have the Emergen C. I opted for a $25 echinacea based product that is “clinically proven to reduce cold recovery time”.
So, I decided it would be unwise to swim while in Toronto. It was a choice of an extra hour of sleep or exercise and I figured my body needed sleep most. My attempts to google the answer to the wiseness of swimming with a cold also had returned conflicting results. Returning on Friday, I felt like I was almost recovered, and I really wanted to get one final swim in with my wetsuit so I headed to the gym at 7:30pm.
I’m not sure if it was wise or not. On one hand, it gave me one more chance to practice getting the fit right on the wet suit and getting out of it quickly. I did my ¼ mile swim non-stop which I also really wanted to do for confidence boosting. Although I did resort to some breast stroke to catch my breath a few times, my time was 12:27 even though I felt like it was 20 minutes. But, I was more conjested last night than I have been.
I scouted out the “competition”. Of course, I’m really doing this for me and to say I finished it, but you can’t help analyzing how you think you will do. Last year, the fastest time was just under 50 minutes and the longest time was around 2 hours.
I think I can come in the middle of the pack, which I would be totally happy with for my first race. There are currently 300 entrants. It’s traditionally a women’s race and this is the first year for men, but there are many more women. And, while it means there is more “competition” for me, I think it’s totally cool that my division, women 40 – 44, is by far the largest division with 47 participants – GO MIDDLE AGED SISTERHOOD!!!
I’ve read all of the pre-race information. Women 40+ are the first wave. I suppose they think we will be the slowest, but the reality is last year’s results show that age and body type (there is a division for the heavy set) are not necessarily indicative of success. The water temperature is expected to be 68-70 degrees which is colder than last year and makes me glad I have the full wetsuit, even if it may constrict my breathing a bit.
I made a list all week – thinking of additional things to add every day. There are so many details related to all of the gear and the transitions to think about. It hadn’t occurred to me, for example, what I would do with my wetsuit once I removed it. Last night, I posed the question to my husband who looked over and said to take the small crate that currently has shoes in it – it seems perfect…compact enough for a small transition area but big enough to throw my gear in as I complete each leg. I’ve brought extra everything just in case of malfunction – extra contacts, goggles, sneakers, etc! My gear bag is bigger than my regular weekend clothes bag!
A day before, here’s what am I worried about – in order of worry: 1) The swim: getting kicked or hyperventilating in the stress of it 2) a flat tire or bike malfunction (while I’ve pack extra tubes, I still need a lesson what to do and I’m not sure if I really will be able to overcome that – I don’t have a portable pump for one thing) 3) Waking up tomorrow and feeling worse than I do right now with this cold 4) a bike crash – I wasn’t really worried about this since I’m a pretty adept rider until I heard stories – you never know.
So, am I crazy like a fox? Ironically, pulling into Quakertown, PA the first restaurant I see is Fox Pizza. As we drive to the state park, there is a Fox Run Road. I looked up the origin of the saying: “seemingly foolish but in fact extremely cunning.” One blogger gave his interpretation: “You are saying that the person is smart and can outwit other people. The image I get is that the actions of a fox appear a little crazy but he is in fact acting in a brilliant manner to save himself.”
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