In 24 hours...

...if all goes well, I'll be on the bike phase of my very first sprint triathlon!!!

AAAAAIIIEEEEEE!!!

I'm trying to not self-combust with excitement and nervousness here. We're packed, and thanks to Mr. Handsome-and-Handy, my bike is all checked over and ready to go! Thanks to Google street view, I've checked out the bike route. (They lied. It's not ALL flat.) I've been hydrating and resting and eating sensibly. I bought that BodyGlide stuff, and a CO2 bike pump thing, and tried on (but did not buy) a full tri-suit. (Though if I like this tri-business, I might go back to REI and buy it, it was on clearance.)

For this event, I'm dragging my family along, and I didn't even know it was "National Family Health and Fitness Day" (thanks, Miz!)! Things 1 and 2 are looking forward to staying at the hotel tonight and going to the pool. They haven't seen me do an event before, so I'm hoping they'll enjoy it. (Even though we have to be there early, like when it's still dark.)

I've had to keep telling myself, "Stay." That's my mantra lately. As in "Sit! Stay! Good brain!" As in good ol' crunchy-California-granola "be present" (hee hee, this crunchy-granola California girl got a big kick out of Juice's treatment of the phrase.), don't let my mind go tearing off on logistics and "what ifs" at times when it shouldn't...like during my drive to work when I ought to be paying attention to the road. *Ahem*

I've been listening to Pirates of the Caribbean movie music and feeling all intense and swashbuckling.

I'm trying to not worry about the heat. I'm not used to it, and it's supposed to be in the low 100s in Pleasanton tomorrow. Of course, I'm basing my "not used to it" on when I was still lugging around 80 extra pounds. Sheesh, that's like carrying around Thing 2 *all the time*! That, plus high blood sugar, no wonder I was so tired all the time! I'm bringing lots of water, and I figure I can always throw myself in the lake briefly before the run if I get too hot.

Do you want to know what I'm really worried about? I'm not worried about how I'll do during, or what my time will be, or will the transitions go smoothly, or will I get trampled too much during the swim, or that hill toward the end of the bike, or losing my way on the twisty 5K course. Well, I'm lying, of course I'm worried about those.

My biggest worry is getting there. Just getting there and starting. Because I've TOLD people I'm going to do this thing. I've blathered on about it on the blog. I've bored people with it in real life. I'm burning to do this thing. But as I was whining over in Christie O's excellent article's comments, if the car breaks down or I get sick or if they mysteriously lose my registration info and won't let me compete, or....well, you get the idea...then I'll not be able to do what I said I was going to do. Suffice it to say, that would suck.

So I'm going to tune into some "Pirates" music and think affirming, Pubsgal-suited-up-by-the-lake-and-poised-to-leap-in thoughts. Pubsgal biking. Pubsgal running...walking...crawling...whatever it takes to finish. Pubsgal sporting a little medal and a new t-shirt thoughts, hugging her family and giving them my granola bar swag thoughts.

Okay, well, I guess I'd better go be present with some more tea now...or go hurl, I'm not sure which sounds more appealing at the moment....

P.S. A very happy birthday to Christie O of "Baby Tea Leaves"! Virtual tri-buddy, sister of the shrinking jeans, super mom & homemaker, champion of premie babies and their families, awesomely funny writer, and now...seamstress? Hope you get spoiled rotten this weekend, girlfriend!