BRING ON THE BAY!!

 OMG THE GREAT CHESAPEAKE BAY SWIM IS TOMORROW!!! 

I'm so PUMPED! This last day of tapering is driving me crazy. Sleeping late and lounging around are hell! I'm going crazy. I feel like I should be running or biking or doing yard work or washing my car or SOMETHING! Instead, I've been lazing around, getting organized, listening to pump-me-up music, revisiting inspirational quotes from my IMAZ training days, and of course, hydrating.

I also came up with my playlist for the swim. Each mile has a specific song I'll be singing to myself:

 

MILE 1:  Bust A Move by Young MC

MILE 2:  It's Tricky  by RunDMC

MILE 3:  Can't Touch This by MC Hammer

MILE 4:  Till I Collapse by Eminem

.4 TO THE FINISH:  Good Feeling by Flo Rida

Tonight I revived a pre-marathon tradition:

On the night before the last 3 MCMs I did, I headed to Mama Lucia's for some pasta. Their food is so good. You'll notice the water coupled with a beer chaser--it's all part of my pre-race carbo-hydration strategy. I always get the pasta with light marinara sauce. It seems to have plenty of salt in it. Which makes me think of the weather.....

The forecast calls for temps ranging from 84 to 88 degrees during the swim. The wind? A mere 4 to 7 mph. Humidity will be in the 45% range. In other words, IT'S GOING TO BE PERFECT. I'm not sure what any of this means for the current....I suppose the current could still be ridiculous, but at least we shouldn't have a lot of rough water to deal with. 

I'll go to sleep tonight (if I can sleep) knowing that I've done all the training I set out to do....including those insane 7  -8,000's in the pool, the Nanticoke River 3 Miler, the Reston 5K + 1 miler, the ABC swim, the Sandy Pt. swim.... I'm not sure what more I could've done to prepare. That's 4 open water swims before the event;  5 if you count Rumpus.

I'm also feeling a lot of gratitude-- thankful for the support of friends like P, Tracey, and Janet...and for all the help and advice I've gotten from Swim Coach Mark. After tomorrow I can finally get back to the rest of my training. Yay for running and biking again! As for swimming, it'll be interesting to see whether this newfound passion I seem to have for swimming will stick after The Bay.