when things get real

Today's the day things start getting tangibly real for the bike ride. It's check-in day....when I turn in my little envelope that has whatever cash I've collected, and sign the paper saying I'll definitely ride and raise a minimum of $200 (no biggie...already have over $2000), and they hand me the jersey I'll wear and the number to affix to it and my bike. I was number 444 last year. This year I'll be 32. I know that because a few days ago in the mail I received the tag to put on my overnight bag, which they transport to Daytona. It has your number on it, so they know which bag to hand you when you get there. I also have a copy of the route we'll take (longer than last year). Things you can touch are now coming into my possession, and making it all very real.

That's how it felt last year anyway, and I'm sure it'll be the same this evening. I mean, both years I signed up to do this thing in February, and I started training, but it all seemed so far away. Even through the spring and summer, as I trained, people would ask when it is, and the answer was always..."Oh, it's still x weeks or x months away." It was an abstract thing out there in the future.

When you go and see the people, and they hand you something tangible, like the clothes you're going to wear, all of a sudden it's...damn, I'm really doing this, and it's about a week away.

Note: I'm far less apprehensive about it this year. At least I have a far better idea of what I'm in for.