Things I expect during or after IM MOO.

Meh, yeah another list, but I can see a use for this one too. I can go back and compare my actual exp. to this and see how wrong I was. Or maybe after I'll have an inner peacefulness descend upon me and I will no longer need lists...mmmm

During:

1) Pain - hopefully not acute pain that means I am injured, but I do expect my legs to decide at some point that this was a dumb idea. At that point something else will have to take over.

2) Peace - I expect a point where my mind snaps and everything is ok. Be it endorphins, exhaustion, I don't know, but hopefully this feeling doesn't show up when I lose consciousness. I also expect this feeling to last about 5 minutes and go back to pain, but if I can I'll try to dwell on the good stuff as long as possible.

3) I expect it to be harder than I expect - It is a long race, and I am going to drive the bike course to get an eyeball full, but seeing it from behind a dashboard and from behind handlebars are two different perspectives. I've heard the bike course is pretty hard. I've ridden through Madison 3 times on different Minneapolis to Chicago AIDS rides and nothing from Madison really stood out. The insane hill in Baraboo I remember, Madison I don't. Either it was so hard I blocked it out or it didn't seem hard. After a 2.4 mile swim it might feel a lot different though.

4) I am hoping part of the run will be easier than I expect - I have really been working hard and after tapering I hope there will be a little more oomph than the half-iron distance I did in July.

5) I expect to finish - there I've said it. I really think I can do this, whatever it takes and no matter how long I'm out there, hopefully under the 17 hr cutoff though.

After the race:

1) I expect elation and maybe tears - hopefully tears of joy and not pain

2) A really long walk to the car back to the hotel - I'm a little high after a long race for about 15 minutes, then I am crashing. Plus I will have been up all day when I'm used to being up all night.

3) Pain - 140 miles on my body. Nuff said.

4) A really long ride home - I really don't like being in the vehicle after a long race. Everything cramps up worse than usual and I get cranky and hungry. And I swear I have to pee 3x as much too, what's up with that?

5) Emotional roller coaster - I set this big goal and took years to work up to it. That's a long time to focus on something. I've registered for a trail 5k a few weeks after for something to do and think about after this, then there is the 24 hours of Telemark, but still, there is going to be a hole in my life for a little while.

I know expectations are rarely completely right, but I can't deny that they are popping up all over the place in my mind. Maybe now that I have put them down into words they'll stop bouncing around in my head :)