24 Hours 'Til Kiawah

The gun fires on Sunday at 7:30am sharp.

Holy sh...

Y'all. I swear it was like just four weeks ago when I finished the Clemson sprint triathlon, but apparently it's been FOUR MONTHS already. So here I am again. 24 hours before my race and it has all the makings of an anxiety attack.

Let's recap the situation:

  • About to do a race that's twice the distance as my first one
  • The swim is in the Atlantic Ocean – THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.
  • We haven't seen or practiced the race courses ahead of time like we did for Clemson.
  • The whole thing is happening 4 hours from home, so if I forget to pack a piece of my gear, I'm SOL.

Yeah. This is the standard recipe for an anxiety attack.

But I got this.

One of the unexpected side effects of all this training is a serious reduction in my anxiety levels. Instead of pacing,  fidgeting or...you know...going into cardiac arrest over things, I'm running, swimming, biking or hitting the living hell out of a punching bag. Much cheaper than an ER visit...or tranquilizer darts.

Several-years-ago-me in the face of relatively minor stress.

Several-years-ago-me in the face of relatively minor stress.

New-me when faced with an anxiety-inducing situation.

New-me when faced with an anxiety-inducing situation.

So while the next 24 hours may have me chewing my nails a little more than usual and taking a few deep breaths, compared to several-years-ago-me, I'd consider myself down right laid back about it all. 

Stay tuned for a race report recap when it's all over!!