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180 degrees

Dear Ford Ironman Arizona Participants,

We will be assigning race numbers to the 2008 Ford Ironman Arizona on Monday, March 31. If you are not racing and do NOT wish to have a race number assigned, please let us know on or before Friday, March 28. As per our entry policy, the refund deadline has passed and you will not be entitled to a refund nor do we allow rollovers to another year.

When I got this email before my last Ironman, it sent shivers down my spine. I felt underprepared and lacked confidence in my ability to deal with the bike course. (I was fine, of course, but suffered from major jitters in the week before the race.)

This time around, I am probably even less prepared, but I'm far more confident. The current chatter on my favorite triathlon forum is about how hot and windy it will probably be on race day. But I can't control the weather, so worrying about it will just be wasting energy.

Before I broke my wrist, my primary goal was to finish under 13 hours. That is a best-case scenario. If everything goes perfectly, I still think I can do it. (FWIW, I finished IM New Zealand in 13:05, but then again, that was four years ago.) My injury definitely affected my ability to train how I wanted to, mostly in that I haven't ridden outside as much as I would have liked. If I don't hit my number-one goal, am I copping out if I blame the injury? (Or, for that matter, if I blame the wind?)

I'm trying not to overthink this. The bulk of my training is done, and now, three weeks out, there's nothing I can do to improve my fitness. All I can do is stay healthy until race day and maintain the fitness I have. And I can stay positive, and I can continue to get excited about this race. Because it's going to be AWESOME.

March 24, 2008 5:07 PM