Lindsey Heim

How to keep occupied during your taper...

1. Remove long standing toe nail polish and joyously realize that there are only two black toenails! Paint toenails a special new color (I now own three colors of nail polish!) for the upcoming race entitled "Don't Toy With Me." I thought that it was appropriate.

2. Clean my car.

3. Pack, re-pack, re-check, re-pack, re- double check all of the race gear.

4. I have a steady record of unpredictable catastrophic mechanical failures while racing which now plagues me with a somewhat paranoid take on bicycle preparation. I have already had the following dreams: that my chain broke and I didn't have a spare link to put it back together (I taped a spare link on to my bike in case this was prophetic), that I got to my bike after the swim and I had a double flat that used up all of my pit stop to realize that it could only be fixed by two new tyres (I am hoping that this one is not prophetic- but I may bring and extra spare).

5. Bake cookies for the 'carb loading' lasagna luncheon that work surprised me that they are throwing as a send off tomorrow. I work with some pretty awesome people.

6. Find both of my newer toe warmers that have been missing all while I have been using my old pair which are barely held together by a few remaining threads. I was pretty excited!

7. Remove things from my packing piles to go out for a quick workout, and immediately wash things up to return anything to its respective pile.

8. Get the dust off of my beloved road bike, and feel sort of naked riding around in what feels like a completely upright position without any sort of computer besides my watch. It is weird not having having W, hr, c, mph, kJ, etc. staring you in the face at all times- quite refreshing!

9. Get to finally crack open the last pair of size 10.5, 2006 Saucony Tangents! I have been saving these bright pink shoes for this race. In my book, they are the best shoe on the planet, and even better if they are worn fresh out of the box for the full 26.2 to preserve that extra-special 'new shoe sproininess.' Believe me, I will need all of the 'sproininess' I can get when I start that run this weekend!

10. See a few snow flakes flying outside, and find comfort in the fact that I will soon be down in Florida! :)

That's about it for now... Ready to get out of here and go have some fun!