The last day.

Today was my last day of training for Lake Stevens. Sunday is the day. Tomorrow will be a day off. We'll sleep in, which means 7 am in our house. Then, we'll load up the car and head up to Seattle. It will be about a three hour drive. Once there, we'll check into our hotel, head to the race briefing, get our packet and go check in our bikes. Then we'll head to dinner and probably hit the sack early. I expect our alarm will go off around 4 am.

I have spent the last 20 weeks thinking about this Sunday. I have spent the last 20 weeks thinking about how it would feel to get to this week. Today, during my last training run, I spent some time thinking about the past 20 weeks. All the things that I have done to get to this point.

I've been keeping my blog, of course, and a notebook journal of my training days. Each day, I write down what I did, how I felt, what I was thinking. I looked back on all these things this week. Some days I felt great, some days I didn't...but every day, I kept pushing forward.

It is still hard to believe that I had weekends where I ran 15 miles on Sat and did a sprint triathlon on Sunday. Or weekends where I did an Olympic distance triathlon on Saturday and ran 12 miles on Sunday. The idea that my body has become this strong is really awesome to me.

I am nervous about Sunday. That's my make-up - I fret. I know I am ready, I know I can do it. I know it will be fun. The last two events we have done were just a blast and I enjoyed every minute of them. I plan to enjoy every minute on Sunday - no matter how many minutes it takes me. I will calm down once I get in the water and the gun sounds...until then I've got an upset stomach and heartburn.

I thought about the people I know who have been through hell - children sick, children dying, brothers passing away, cancer. I think of those people and realize - this is one day. Nothing I experience on Sunday will be even close to what those people have been through. I'll think of them and I'll draw on their strength. Annalee, Mark, Olivia, Krista, Tina, Alaina, Susan. Because when I look around me at the strongest people I know - they aren't the people who can run the furthest or lift the most at the gym. They are the people who can go through a crisis and never stop moving.

I feel blessed to be able to make it to the start line on Sunday. Its just one day - the 20 weeks leading up to it were the hard part. After Sunday, we'll move on to our next challenge. Because really, life is all about seeing what you're made of.