For those of you who have been pregnant and have had a child, you know more about endurance events than just about anyone.
The day you find out you're pregnant is like registering for a race. You're happy, sad, scared to death and wonder if you've made the right decision.
A pregnancy takes about 40 weeks. My training for boulder (including base training) has gotten me to week 31. It'll be 34 weeks, when I show up at the start.
A week or two ago, I started stressing and wondering "Can I do this? The pain. The speeds. Can I do this? I don't think I can. I'm not ready."
A few weeks before delivery, I felt the same way. It was the freakout of "This is going to hurt so bad. I can't do this. I'm not ready to be a parent. I'm not READY!"
Then, something changes. I always call it the calm before the storm.
Everything makes sense. The date is coming. Training is effectively over. Calm moves in. At this point, the race will be what it will be. Good or bad, it won't be for lack of training.
Race day is a couple of weeks away now.
On race day, like delivery, there won't be a lot of thinking. My body will do what it knows it has to do. It will push when it needs to and it will back off when it needs to.
All I can do is breathe.