T minus 3 days and counting...
…until my sprint triathlon.
I’m trying not to rock back and forth while whimpering nervously think about it, but I’m confident that I can complete this thing and maybe live to tell the tale. In fact, we did a successful trial run of the bike route yesterday evening (shout out to Google Maps! Holla!), which eased my fears about being able to, you know, not veer seven miles off-course come Sunday morning.
However, I have a couple new reasons to worry: the weather (it’s a very Irish day here today, and this is a rain-or-shine deal barring t-storms), and…my back.
I’ve purposefully not mentioned this to anyone, but I hurt my lower back on Monday. By reaching over to the passenger side of the car to retrieve Ethan’s diaper bag. By the beard of Zeus, why did this have to happen now? However, I know it’s just a muscle strain; I haven’t been completely debilitated and I’ve still been able to do my light training this week without making it worse, but still.
Consider this my press release—the kind that elite athletes send out right before major events to assure the viewing public that their injuries won’t affect their performances, but then all the announcers talk about is how Nadal missed that forehand down the line by three centimeters because of that darned strained ab muscle. See? I’m covering my bases, so if I do well you can be all “Wow! Look how she persevered and pushed through the pain!” and if I don’t do well you can be all “Ah it’s really too bad about that injury because I know she would have won the whole thing if it weren’t for that bad back!”
I’m also considering wrapping my entire midsection in conspicuous athletic tape. You know, for sympathy support.
Elsewhere, the New York Times sent out a breaking news alert email entitled “House Votes, 240-179, to Rebuke Representative Joe Wilson Over Outburst” which they could have easily re-titled “House Wastes Tremendous Amount of Time and Effort Officially Deciding Whether or Not Rep. Joe Wilson Is Wrong for Acting Like an Unruly Kindergartner in an Obvious Time-Wasting Strategy to Avoid Addressing Real Issues.”