Home Stretch

Three full days, plus tonight, and counting...and overall, I'm not nearly as nervous as I'd expected.  I did just spend 3 days in my new place in Boston, unpacking and exploring, so I've been able to keep myself distracted.  My only concern is that out of nowhere on Sunday, every time I took a step on my left foot, my sciatic nerve would be pinched.  A couple times it hurt enough to drop me to the ground.  Needless to say, I got a bit panicky and did not do any training on Sunday.  Or Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  I'm still feeling twinges and really reluctant to push it.  I just really hope that I have what it takes on Sunday this week.  I'm not too worried about the heat predicted--I do well in heat and humidity and I believe the course is relatively shaded.  But I'm worried that the bike will aggravate my hip and I'll spend the entire run stretching out my hamstring.  It's hard to post a good run time when you have to stop and stretch every mile or so.  But, I'm hopeful that I'm stronger than I feel (and I now completely understand everyone who complains about tapering!) and that this week of doing nothing but yoga and hopefully some swimming tomorrow won't hurt me.  I'll admit I'm scared.  More often than not though I'm pretty excited to see what I can pull out and the fact that I've taken this much time off is honestly helping me relax and recognize that this isn't a competition, it's, to quote Scott, a hobby.  So I'm pretty pumped and will be excited to cross this off the life list.