Triathlon #2 of the season...

...went off without a hitch. Let me rephrase that. It went off without a hitch because I did not run it. This is tough for me to admit. I thrive on competition. The masochistic side of me likes to push my body and test its limits. I train all summer for these things and I have never backed out of one the day of the race. Along with being athletic, I am also a firm believer in listening to your body. Sometimes it knows best. That being said, here's how it all went down. I went out for a ride on Tuesday. I have a new bike that I really enjoy riding which is HUGE for me because I normally don't like to spend two hours on a bike. I find it to be a bit boring. The new bike is turning this around for me. It has some serious get up and go and, for once, it fits quite nicely. It doesn't give me back pain and the seat isn't too uncomfortable. Anyway, after my bike ride I just couldn't shake this terrible gut feeling I had that something bad was going to happen during the race. Not only could I not shake it that night but I had it for the rest of the week. This manifested itself into bad nightmares about wrecking myself in the middle of the race. I also was more stressed out this week than I had been since grad school. I had nothing to attribute it to except this damn race. So the night before, I decide to drag the boy downtown for food and a glass of wine to take the edge off. Nothing was working. I got myself so fired up that I couldn't sleep that night. I kept waking up every hour with my heart racing. I had terrible nightmares all night about seriously hurting myself during the triathlon. So, when I woke up at 4 a.m and still felt like a basket case, I decided I needed to bail out. At that point I had no sleep and I couldn't relax. This is no way to go into a race. So, I bailed. I never feel that way before a race. I am normally really mellow and focused. I have about an hour of nervous excitement right before the race starts and then I am good to go. This was so uncharacteristic of me. I think I made the best decision. No harm done just 60 bucks down the drain.

I have already picked out two more races to do next month. I'll let you know if I go mental on those.