I went for a swim this morning, to get a feel for what it is going to be like at the race start tomorrow.  It reminded exactly of how it felt three years ago, when I last did this race.

When racing in a town called Oceanside, it is fitting that the race start is in the ocean.  This inevitable means that the beginning of the race, is all about getting through the surf.  That is what I wanted to practice this morning.  In particular, I wanted to practice ducking under breaking waves.

I did indeed get plenty of practice.  I was able to handle most waves, but did get rolled by one particularly big and nasty breaker.  This was actually quite useful, because it made me realize that you can recover from such a beating, quite easily. The key was to stay calm, gather myself and start swimming again.

The waves were reasonably big today. Certainly big enough to attract a lot of surfers. Luckily, there won’t be any surfers to dodge tomorrow morning!

Who knows what tomorrow’s race will bring.  My goal is to stay patient, enjoy the day and hopefully be in good shape, to lay it down on the run.  See you on the other side of the race.