What I think about hours before I have hours to think

I'm pretty sure that my first Olympic distance triathlon this Sunday will take me about 3 hours. That's 3 hours of me pushing myself to keep moving forward. What do I think about for those 3 hours? I dunno...I'll probably be singing to myself the whole time. I find music in my head helps me zone out from the little lazy complaints and uncomfortabilitiesthat happen in a race. You know, those little things like: It's hot. My right shoe is tighter than my left shoe. My race jersey feels like it's pulling on one side. Sweat just dripped down my sunglasses and I can't see. Where's that smell coming from?

But that's just 3 hours. I have 48 hours to think until then. Sorry, but my mental playlist isn't that long. Here's what's running through my mind for the next 2 days:

• Did I pack all my gear? I'm trying to visualize each segment and do a full body scan of the things I'll need: swim, transition, bike, transition, run, finish, eat, sleep.


• Am I lost? I need to print out directions from my house to the hotel, the hotel to the expo, and the hotel to the race start.


• What am I eating? Pre-race/in-race/post-race...there's a lot of eating involved. Do I have enough?


• Was my last workout too hard that my race will suffer? I did a short ocean swim this morning. My legs are a little tired from yesterday's bike ride. Should I jog or let them rest?


• Am I doing anything new for the race that I haven't done in training? I've used my equipment, I'm eating the same stuff. I think I'm good...I think.


• What stupid newbie thing will I do to embarrass myself? It's my first time, please be gentle.


• How do I set up a transition area? I've talked to someone about it, but haven't actually laid one out yet. Hmm. Looks like I just hit the previous 2 bullet points square on the head. Guess I'll just cheat off the guy next to me.


• Are there hills that I don't know about? I should probably check the elevation charts or even better, see if I can still drive the course.


• How awesome is finishing my first race going to feel? Pretty frickin awesome.

I'm typically not much of a worrier. Things happen and you deal with it. Maybe having these thoughts just means I'm really excited. Yeah, I can already tell this is going to be fun.