Webster, MA United States

Total Time = 1h 41m 22s Overall Rank = 864/1747 Age Group = 40-44 Age Group Rank = 165/264

Met up with BT'ers MomX3, Miko, Abakak, Nikki, Fitby40, K8Holland, Lobstergirl & Celeb-ithil at the Pre-Race mandatory meetings on Saturday. Went to lunch with Fitby40, Miko & Celeb-ithil and then we walked the run course. (We cut it too short, though, as I found to my sorrow on race day when they wanted me to budge a single foot farther than I thought I had to.) Then Celeb-ithil & Miko and I drove the course and I provided a running commentary about where I'd shift into the big chain ring (i.e., everywhere not uphill) and they pleasantly pretended I was being helpful.

I had decided to stay at my in-law's house because it was closer and I'd escape the work-a-day problems of my own home. In honor of me and my daughter being, there, though, they threw a party. 6 teenagers, 2 little kids, 15 people in all. And so much for carb-ups, they had shrimp & steak and salad for dinner. I was secretly sneaking banana bites. It was hellish trying to escape to get to bed at 8:00, and useless as well since I could hear ordinary speaking voices in the next room from my paper-thin-walled guest bedroom.

4:00 AM came very early. Very, very early: actually it came at 3:30 when I woke up in a panic thinking I had overslept. I lay there trying to make myself fall back asleep for a coveted extra half hour of sleep, but I was too worried that my two alarm clocks would fail. So I got up.

Another problem with my in-law's house: I can't really make coffee there. I desperately needed coffee. I had scouted out a 24-hour Dunkin Donuts the day before so I got my stuff together and headed out. Oh, first I made my bagel with salmon & cream cheese because that's my everyday breakfast and I didn't want to change it. I couldn't face eating it at 4:30 but by 5 am I was okay to nibble on it as the coffee started to reach my system.

At 5:15 I saw a car on the interstate with a bike on top. Another one entered right behind it. I got all teary-eyed. I was going to show! DFL beats DNF beats DNS and I was going to at least show. Showing up was taking guts because I was outright freaked out about this.

I got there at 5:45 and parked near the lake in the secret parking place us BT-ers had scouted out behind the bowling alley. I woke my kid and we hauled too much stuff down to the beach. I brought my air pump, for example, and a chair for the kid. I was freaked about my always-low back tire. I know it lost air while in the hot car, but every time I'd check it it'd be a little low. Maybe because every time I checked it I let air out of it in the process of checking it? Duh, I know, but did I mention that I was freaked out?

We got to the TA and I realized I'd forgotten my helmet. Sent Squire (daughter) back for it. I had to run around a bit explaining that I wasn't going to wear the latex cap because I thought going into anaphalctic shock during the bike ride would be bad. No one argued with it and I'm not sure why I had to tell anyone. I just looked funny wearing my purple Tyr cap in the green wave.

I went to the port-a-potties once around 6 AM, but resisted the urge to go before the race because I absolutely intended to pee in the water like a real triathlete.

I did several runs back and forth to the TA, getting water for my foot basin, checking entrances exits, obsessively checking tire pressure... about 15 minute before the race I went and swam 100 yards or so, let water into my wet suit, got air out, then jogged back to the TA. That was my warm-up.