Cap Tex Tri Expo

Cervelos, Lightspeed, Specialized, Trek, Kestrel--and everything else in between! The bikes are the most intimidating things about triathlon. You can just look at some of them and know these athletes invested thousands upon thousands of dollars on these machines. What I have to remember is that it doesn't matter how much money you've spent on the bike. You still have to finish the race with a run and only your heart rate and legs to get you through. It still doesn't stop me from being really intimidated though...

Going to the expo reminded me of why I love this community so much. One of the employees of Runtex had seen me speak at the City of Austin a few weeks back and made such wonderful comments about my talk. I'm glad it had an impact on people and I left Runtex feeling a little more confident and energetic. The expo was fun as usual getting to say "hi" to my T3 coaches Chrissie and Maurice, Stacy and the gang at Jack and Adams Bike Shop, David and Irma from Raceworks, Raul and Megan from Run-Far, Jeff from Runtex and the several athletes (Jill, Juan, Kurt, Shelley, Allan, etc) that have become friends over the last few years since I ventured into this community of running and triathlon. Shawn, Allan and I walked our bikes over to the transition area, found our appropriate spots, viewed the swim and run areas and said good-bye to our machines.

There is definitely a feeling of excitement for the fast-paced nature of this course, fear of the unknown, intimidation of those who are faster and stronger, relief since I really have nothing to prove, determination because I want to prove something anyway...

With just a few hours to go, Shawn and I are preparing for a nice pasta dinner and a relaxing evening. Tomorrow is going to be a great day! The bags are packed, the race numbers are in the appropriate areas, the power gels are loaded, the timing chip is in the bag. I went through the lengthy checklist of a triathlon from goggles and socks to sunglasses and body glide...wetsuits to ball cap, racing belt and running shoes. So easy to forget something. So different than running where all you need is shoes (and even those are optional for some). This is TRI-ATHLON. This is the sport where I get to tell people that I can do three sports all in the same day and live to tell about it...I hope.