As I sit and write this I am about 24 hours away from some part of a marathon. Hopefully I am well into it by this time tomorrow. It really doesn't matter how many of these things you have done, the day before is always a strange mix of calmness, anxiousness, nerves, anxiety, fear, excitement. I work with a few athletes who are doing their first Ironman this year and all I can say is that the way you feel the day before that first one is pretty much the way you feel before all of them. Time speeds up and slows down all at once. Until the gun goes off you are constantly bombarded by thoughts like; am I ready for this, man this is going to hurt, did I put my nutrition in my bike to run bag, why the heck am I doing this etc. etc. etc. These things don't change. What I have learned to do is let go of this anxiety a bit and embrace it. I know that I only have a few more of these things left in me and I don't know what endeavor in life I could take on that could possibly bring out the same type of emotions. We are lucky to have the opportunity to take on this challenge. Were it not for a whole bunch of people giving up their Sunday's to basically take care of us, we wouldn't get the chance. So to all the volunteers out there tomorrow, I would like to say a big Thank You in advance.
Cheers,
Mike
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