Phew

Ever had one of those dreams that are so vivid, you wake up a in cold sweat, heart pounding...and think to yourself "Thank God that was just a dream"?

I had one of those the other night. Can you venture to guess what it was about?

You got it. The triathalon.

We were at some huge outdoor venue. My parents, my kids, siblings, nieces and newphews. I think I even caught a glance of my 4th grade teacher Mrs. Krick somewhere in the background. I have no idea why, except to say that I got in trouble a lot that year. Something about talking too much and not paying attention. Let's just leave it at that.

There was a lot of running around, the requisite weird dream things like being in a train station one second and then being in an open field in the middle of the country the next.

But what got my heart pumping was when my brother looked up at me and said "Leigh just texted me her swim time. She's doing great." That's when I knew this big outdoor venue was a triathalon event.

Then my daughter looked at me and said "What time do we swim?" I looked down at my watch, saw that it was 4pm and realized that we had missed our swim--and the triathalon--altogether.

I woke up with the heart rate of a bungee jumper, sweating profusely in an all-out panic.

That was honestly close to the best feeling of relief I have had in my entire life.

I cannot wait until this is over.

It's When???

Oh. My. Gawd.

This really snuck up on me. Two weeks from today is the first triathalon. Saturday May 8th at Bowdoin College, in Brunswick, Maine.

I think I just threw up in my mouth.

Not that I feel unprepared. Granted, last July when I agreed to give it a stab, May of 2010 seemed like it was light years away.

Now, of course, not so much.

But the bike is tuned, the outfit has arrived, the sneakers are broken in. I would have liked to have dropped a few more pounds so as not to expose my still-looks-pregnant gut to the viewing public, but alas, I might possibly need the rest of my life to do that.

So, for now, I am as ready as I can be.

Two weeks from today, I will be able to say I have completed my first triathalon. But until then, I will just be moderately panic stricken, counting down the days.

TTFN.