OH! Please let the race begin

OK, before I talk about the triathlon I need to talk about the time leading up to the tri.

I spent a lot of time with the TEAM before the trip, training, socializing and of course, traveling.  Our group to Knoxville consisted seven triathletes, a coordinator and a coach.  I was the only one on out trip that had not done a tri before.  I became everybody’s project.  I was bombarded with information and advice, much of which I had heard hundreds of times before, some of which was way above my fitness level and some of which was conflicting.  It was like the war of the triathlon advice.  Once the coach would leave the room somebody would rush over to me and tell me to ignore a certain piece of counsel (which I probably tuned out anyway) and to not do the coach’s way but to do it this other way instead.  This went on for days.  I wanted to pull my hair out.  Even my roommate, Kathy, who is the sweetest person in the world, was driving me crazy.  She not only gave me constant advice, but she mothered me as well.  I couldn’t even make a joke without her giving me encouragement and confirmation that I worked hard for this and I will do just fine.  We talked about nothing else.  I couldn’t come up for air.  I was happy to start the race just to stop the bombardment.