20.12.12 99%

16 days to go

When the alarm went off for the third time this morning I really thought about sleeping in rather than swimming.  I was really tired this morning but lying there in bed was only going to make me late for swimming and no more relaxed.  I got on the motorbike and headed to the pool.  When I got there I was told that we would be doing a group set of lays.  To be randomly be picked and put in a lane one person less than the other lanes meant that one of the 4 of us would constantly be doing one more leg than the other teams...not a good start for someone that was tired.  Anyway, we did a bunch of different relays one of which was a breath hold relay whereby I saw the 65 year old women that was in my lane go nearly fifty metres under water and win that particular relay for us.  The rest of the relays where sprints and although it was hard, I am glad that I got up to do it.

As I was getting dressed to head home a mate of mine was walking in to start his session.  We were having a chat about our upcoming races, work and what we were doing over the break.  We were finally talking about my race and how I was not sure how I was going to go when he said to me, "remember that 99% people on the planet can't do what your doing" and walked off for his swim.  Now I am not sure where Brad was getting his statistics from but it did make me think that what I was about to do was something that most people I know had never done or intended to do.  Regardless of the actual statistics, the fact of the matter is that this experience, this 5 months of training, this race is something that not everyone can do and to be able to line up on that start line on the 5th January is going to be a privilege no matter how tired I may be.