Making Friends With Fear

Fear #1: I won't be able to make the fundraising minimum.

I set my personal goal as $4000. How much do I have in so far? $100. I have my dinner in a little under 2 weeks and I'm hoping that will really boost things. I haven't gotten any response from my family members which is both odd and annoying. I mean, we have a history of cancer in our family, don't you think they'd be up for donating something to fight it? I may send out another email and start calling them. Bottom line, I can't cover the difference if I don't make the minimum, which is what we're required to do. I haven't really hit up my co-workers or discussed fundraising in depth with the TNT people. Just looking through the booklet was overwhelming.

Part of me wants to give up. I know I can't though. I have to do this. I have to succeed. This can be done. Time and creativity are on my side. Cancer can't be allowed to win. Fear can't be allowed to win. Who else is going to stand up if not me? Why look around and hope that other people are willing to step up when I'm just as capable? Maybe when people see I'm really serious not only about the triathlon, but about fundraising, they'll be inspired. It helps to be taken seriously.

Fear #2: My First Tri
I'll be competing in my first tri, a super sprint, in 23 days. I've been off for a week and it feels like I've been off for a month. It's a 250 meter pool swim, 8.5 mile bike, and 2 mile run. I'm alternating between being terrified of drowning or crashing on the bike. I still don't swim with my face in the water, which is probably part of the reason I'm having a hard time with it. I've heard horror stories about people being steamrolled during the swim and I *really* don't want that. Then there's the bike. There are hills! There are other cyclists! We're on an actual road! This is clearly a recipe for disaster. I'm going to go down and take everyone with me!

Time to take advantage of the massive number of clubs around me and run with the big dogs. They're doing a run on Sunday and a group ride on Tuesday. I'm not gonna get anywhere if I don't challenge myself. The only thing that's inconvenient are the swims. But two out of three ain't bad, right? They also tend to organize other rides and runs as well and it's not like it's hard to keep track. Plus, they seem pretty good about making sure the n00bs and slow pokes aren't left too far behind.

So, it's time to make friends with fear and show it that I'm the bigger person. Rawr.