OCTOBER 15, 2004: The day of waiting!
I have been waiting all year for that gun to go off tomorrow morning at 6:45 AM.  I can't believe how far I have come in just over a month.  At the end of August after spending the weekend in my house not training I was really thinking of pulling the plug on racing Hawaii.  I was so far from being where I needed to be to able to compete at top form; yet, after a solid training camp in Kona, the support of my friends, and working with Mark I can't wait to race.  I really want to race!  I feel great and lucky to be here.

This morning I woke up early answered some e-mails then crashed again.  It was important that I got out of bed early so that tomorrow's early wake up call won't be such a shock to the system.  Although, I am going to be pretty excited to get out of bed tomorrow - COFFEE!!!!  Yes, I am back on coffee as of tomorrow morning.  We swam in the ocean for 15 minutes then I did a short 15 min run with some light accels toward the end. 

The plan is to spend all morning at the condo relaxing after a HUGE breakfast then ride my bike to The Pier for check in at around 3 PM.
A friend of mine, Jerry Blevins, is coming over for Diner then is going to give me a light massage.  He is going to spend the night and give me a light massage first thing in the morning.  I find that a light shoulder massage first thing in the morning prior to racing really helps ease some tension and open up my shoulders for the hard ocean swim. 
This has been the best week build up before a race.  Hope it shows tomorrow.

Pete