The countdown has begun! 12 days until race day!!!

This is both exciting and terrifying. When the coaches announced that we were now tapering it almost sent me (andrea, of course. murph is far more cool about it.) into a panic attack. I haven't peaked yet! I want to keep training for another month at least! But again and as always I need to trust the coaches, that they know what they're doing and they haven't let me down yet, and myself that I'll find what I need within to pull this off. So this Saturday the coaches reaffirmed their wisdom as we practiced our open water swimming at Brighton Beach.
Bonus: the pictures of folks in wetsuits (or wiggling into them) that were promised some time ago... By the way, getting into a wetsuit is not easy.

So the exciting part is that everyday we've been getting closer to this goal and with every step closer I am impressed with how far I've come since Febuary. I couldn't run a single mile, I didn't own a bike and hadn't been on one in several years, I could swim but I've gotten faster, stronger and smoother in my training. So that's my personal transformation...but I also want to point out the mission of Team in Training...to raise awareness and money to fight blood cancers. I have become a spokesperson for the program as I imagine most other people on the team have-- there are a lot of us to talk it up--and we've raised at this point just under $700,000.

Murph is more actively a spokesperson than I can claim to be and here he is doing the "mission moment" before our swim. Reminding us that we never know what is inside of ourselves and around us until its tested--be it a tumor, the drive, determination and grace to get through treatment, the care and support of others in our lives...it is not entirely different than the things that we have committed ourselves to and are experiencing as Team in Training athletes.

I am learning a lot about getting through things I am afraid of. Though I am a very comfortable swimmer, open water is a whole other story. When we first got in, I had to calm myself down. It didn't feel safe. There were bodies and waves and you couldn't really see where you were going. I had to reach inside my head and push through the fear for a few minutes. And afterward, I felt comfortable that I can do the open water swim thing and proud that I got over the fear.

So here we go. less than 2 weeks. "Send off" is Wednesday. We are mentally and nutritionally preparing ourselves. If you're in the NYC area and you want to watch and cheer on July 16th, we'd really appreciate it. We'll be sending out details about how to do that soon.