Sunday Morning Coming Down: 5 days 'til race day!

I grew up listening to country music and when I went to college at UT Austin in the 70's, cut my grownup teeth on Lone Star and watching Wille and Waylon and Jerry Jeff play live around the various bars, when they were sober/straight enough to remember the words, which was about 50 percent of the time. Country still runs in my veins, not just the newer rockacountry, but the older stuff, like Pasty Cline and of course, Johnny Cash. These are not great jogging songs, but they are great listening songs, including "Sunday Morning Coming Down." Johnny wrote most of his own songs, and you can hear the lonely anguish in every chord of this one.

Sunday morning is indeed coming down soon. I'm ready, or as ready as I'm ever going to be, physically at least, and now the mental readiness is what I need to be focusing upon. I am visualizing the race, the transitions, the start, the finish, the nutrition, the wind, the heat, the salt air on my skin, the gulls crying above my bike. OK, maybe I'm getting carried away a bit here.

I'm still packing, and still amazed at how much "stuff" there is to lug with me, from my oatmeal slow cooker (and the oatmeal, and milk, and honey) to the bike repair stuff "just in case" to that extra set of goggels--no, make that two extra sets, one tinted and one clear. My tinted goggles have been in storage for almost 10 months and showed up with a smudge spot on one side. It's not that bad, but I noticed that I kept thinking I saw a fish to my right when it was only the smudge--not bad in Lake Lavon but might get my heart pumping in Offats Bayou where the fish are, well, a bit larger. So I ordered another pair, overnight, and the shipping probably cost more than the goggles. Fortuanately I have one last swim tomorrow night to get them adjusted and test them out for fit and leaks.

I've told Patient Spouse (who won't start packing until Friday morning; although he is only doing the sprint, with the exception of nutrition he has to use the exact same gear as I do) that I can't bear putting my bike on the outside rack on the way down to get covered in mud, dirt, rain, dust, and bugs, after I just spent an hour washing, cleaning, and oiling it to a shine. So the bike will ride inside the back of the Pilot on the way down, which probably means I have to ride on top to make room for everything, but by golly my bike will be sparkling. On the way back, I'm not going to care quite as much. :-)

Final nutrition for the race is AccelGel in a gel container mounted on the bike (took me some time and experimenting to figure out how to not have that mount rub against my legs, but I managed it), and in tne bike bento box will be a hard boiled egg cut into quarters, a mini PBJ on mini round bread cut into quarters, two Luna bars cut into quarters, and some candy corn scattered at the bottom. Oh, and a small plastic container with two Advil, three salt tablets and one (hopefully not needed) Immodium. Plus lots of Gatorade blue (I like the blue) and a bottle of plain H20 just in case. For the run, my fuel belt will hold a small bottle of Gatorade (which I will refill during the run; Gatorade is being offered at the aid stations. I'll also carry more AccelGels in a gel bottle, some Lunar bars cut up, and some more candy corn. I adore candy corn, and find it easy to chew, better than gummy bears, which take more energy to chew and swallow.

And there you are! Eating and drinking IMO is a major part of getting through a long course, and I'm good at eating and drinking, may come in first place in that category.