Bags and bike dropped off, nothing left to do but wait

It is currently 14 hours from the start cannon. I have dropped off my gear bags and my bike and now it's just time to keep my feet up and wait. For what exactly, I'm not so sure this time. Today there was no training to be done. I was awake way too early and had some time to snack a bit before we headed off to Denny's for a QT2 team breakfast. We ordered enough food to completely overwhelm the kitchen. It literally took over an hour until I had the side of toast that completed my make-your-own grand slam. I think they might have actually had to knead the dough, let it rise, bake the bread and THEN turn it into toast. But I was sufficiently stuffed. Further proof that after dreaming of eating for so long, once you finally have to, it's not nearly as much fun.

Since then, not a whole lot has been going on. Sitting around, forcing down more food, getting the final instructions from the coach, and then dropping off the bags and stuff. I got a new Cervelo t-shirt since they were handing them out to Cervelo owners. Nice shirt, I think I'll actually wear it.

So tomorrow is the big day. This is a rough one for me. Last year, when I walked by that finish line at 5am on race morning and knew I would be watching instead of racing, I was not happy. I wanted to do everything I could to get back to this race. And now I've made it back and I can't possibly compete to the best of my ability because I'm injured. Given the injury, I probably shouldn't be competing at all, but as long as I'm here and I've got an official number, I'm going to go out and do what I can. I'm going to try and at least have the swim and bike of my life.

Then, in T2, I've got a decision to make. And really, the decision can be changed at any point out there on that run course. Do I really have it in me to walk 26 miles and watch the whole race pass me by? Is it really worth it just to cross the finish line? I don't really know. It's a decision I'll have to make out there tomorrow. It's quite possible that after a few miles of walking I'll reconsider. And of course it's also possible that after a few miles of walking my stress fracture might really start bothering me, at which point I will definitely stop. I am not going to continue if I feel like I'm making things worse. I've got a very big 2010 season lined up and I don't want to screw that one up, too. It's just a crappy situation, but again, there are much worse injuries I could have.

As for now, I would at least like to say good luck to my teammates who will be out there racing. Cait, Michelle, Pat, Pam, Chris, Hannah, Jaime: I know you will all do great out there. I hope I can celebrate a finish with you. If not, I'll be cheering you in and I will be with you next year.