Did I Shave My Legs For This?

Nice weather.  :-/

Rain. Wind. Waves. Did I really sign up for this?  Just as soon as my brother and I dropped off our bags, the heavens opened and dumped rain, rain, and more rain.  Look at that picture above...multiple swells pounding the beach.  Flags pegged.  Beach grass bent under the weight of the wind...I guess things can only get better right?

That's some decent surf out there.  Did I mention there's currently a rip current warning in effect?  Maybe it'll help my swim time...

Most triathletes put countless hours of preparation into a race like this.  In addition to hundreds of hours of training time, no details are left undone.  Nails are trimmed (so as not to tear wetsuits), energy packets are taped to bike frames, and running shoes are carefully placed.  Some triathletes will even go as far as shaving their legs in the vain (misguided) belief that it will shave seconds from their bike times.

I trimmed and filed my nails last night, mixed my energy drinks, rented aerodynamic wheels for my bike, and carefully packed my bike's Bento box with goodies.  I've put a lot of time (at least for me) into preparing for this race.  But I didn't shave my legs for this.  Nor would I ever.  But if this weather holds, I wonder if it will even matter. 

My bike is racked and ready in the center there (note the aero wheels).  See how strong the wind is?  It is actually blowing bikes around on the racks!

I did a race like this once.  18 months ago.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever attempted.  I was hoping for a little better conditions tomorrow.  I guess I'm putting a lot of faith in the weatherman right now.  Because it's not looking great.

If things don't improve at all, I'll be glad that--despite all my other preparation--at least I didn't bother to shave my legs for this.  :-/

 

 

On the bright side, this was lunch!  Delicious!!

And now, the musical stylings of Deana Carter...