The dreams have started again...

So they've started again, and I think that's probably a good thing, but it still makes me wake up in a panic every time I have one. You know what I'm talking about. Everyone that's had a large race (cough, cough, IRONMAN, cough, cough) in the foreseeable future knows what I'm talking about....

Yes, the panic dreams.

You are exiting the swim in an Ironman and running into transition only to find that you are missing a certain piece of equipment that is VITAL to you finishing the race (last night it was the bike shoes and before that my helmet) Or it might even be that you are running towards transition and you realize that you have forgotten to put your uniform underneath your wetsuit, or various other silly things that probably wouldn't likely happen in real life but still cause you to wake up in a cold sweat. Hell, I had one the other day I dreamt that I had completely forgotten to drop off my transition bags and had stolen someone’s backpack en route to running to the transition tent and grabbed whatever I could out of it to help me finish (somehow they had bike shoes in it? I don’t know)

But yes, the dreams have returned. In a way it's good to know that they have returned, as that means that it is getting painfully close to the big dance in Wisconsin. But also, it just sucks to be woken out of a SOUND sleep and have your heart be beating out of your chest in a panic because you think that you were a dumbass and forgot that vital piece of equipment...(ironically most of my dreams have to do with bike equipment - don't know if that is a good/bad thing)

I would be worried if I didn't have the dreams most every week because that would mean that I really didn't care too much about the race and wasn't at all anxious, but I can say with a straight face that I'll be relieved when they are gone. I had them for a SOLID year before IMFL in 2006 and I hated it. It was like clockwork, every week I would wake up at the very minimum, in a panic once a week. I'm happy that getting thru 2 IM's has given me the foresight to only have them occasionally now, but they are still an annoyance.

So here's to crazy dreams, I hope they come for you, but then I hope they leave as quickly as they arrived. And I hope that they are replaced with thoughts of you attaining all of the most out of reach goals that you can think of and I hope that you envision yourself just doing what you do. Those thoughts are the ones that will get me to sleep over the next few weeks. Just do what you love to do. Just do what you do. Just do what you do. Just do.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Cheers folks.