5daystoglory

Well here we are! Five days to glory. I've been hashtagging the snot out of all of my stuff. and this one seems to have stuck (counting down from about 12). I'm feeling SO super excited right now. I've practiced changing tires, grabbing water on the go, nutrition, and transitions. I've made my packing list and compared it to my training runs and my transition practices. My friends and family have their poster boards and their cowbells and their directions on when to stand where and all of that good stuff. I'm obsessively checking the weather and the water temps, but other than than, I AM READY!

I may wake up tomorrow scared out of my mind, but my self-talk today has been super positive. "It will be choppy, but you have your wetsuit and kayaks and buoys and you.will.be.fine. It will be windy, but you have trained hard in the wind and you know what to expect and you.will.be.fine. It will be hot, but you will have cooling sleeves, cold sponges, ice, and your family is armed with water guns and you.will.be.fine."

Yesterday was a bit of a mess - kids had swim practice 4-5, soccer 6-7, and scouts 6:30-7:30. Somehow, Coach Sheri managed to run out the door with no ball bag and no whistle, but thanks to an enormous mouth and a killer set of lungs God gave me, we made it through. I'm thankful I was able to get my swim in early and focus on being mom (read - being two places at the same thing). Taper week seems to have hit at just the right time. Doug started a new job last week and we're all kind of discombobulated, but at least my training dropped from ~10 hours a week to ~3. I feel everything falling into place and today? I'm not scared. Today I am trusting in my training and in myself.

In other news, I've decided to race in honor of Cameron Clanton. My cousin and her husband lost thier little boy almost exactly 19 years ago. Their family has been on my heart a lot lately and as fate would have it, his birthday is race day. When I get scared or tired or something starts to hurt, I will lift his family up in prayer. I will remember how scared and tired and painful this experience was for our entire family and I will push through - not just for the sake of finishing the race, but for the sake of bringing glory to an otherwise sad day for our family. To bring honor to his memory and to my dedication. My dear friend and training buddy says I should have picked a happier memory to carry with me on race day, but this one is near and dear to me and the timing is right somehow.

So. #5daystoglory. Five days to #HIMTX #IM703TX #brasstacks. Five days until I skip, crawl, stumble across that finish line and embrace the reward that I've trained so hard for over these last 7 months. Five days until my race report.