I am 4 weeks away from my first half-ironman distance triathlon. That’s 70.3 miles–a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run–of challenging “fun.” I have been training for this race for the past 8 weeks and am really feeling the pressure with so little time left before I stand at the edge of Lake San Antonio waiting for the starting gun to sound. The trick is to follow the training plan, building strength and endurance step by step, without thinking too much about the difficulty of the race itself. You see, I have selected one of the most challenging half ironman courses to de-virginize myself with–Wildflower. This is what pro triathlete Chris McCormack has to say about it: “Wildflower is our sport’s greatest half-iron-distance challenge. Its history, its course and the respect that all our sport’s greats have for it will forever hold this race as a must-win event for any triathlete who fancies him- or herself a long-course star. . . This race is old-school tough!” And Jesse Thomas, the cute, aviator-wearing winner of last year’s Wildlflower long course remarks: “To me, Wildlflower represents triathlon in its purest, raddest form: camping, racing hard in the sun on trails and hilly country roads, and celebrating with buddies around a campfire. It’s a must-do for every triathlete.” Sounds fun, right? So I’m doing it. But the fact of the matter is, I am in for my biggest triathlon challenge yet. It is certainly intimidating to hear the pros talk about this legendary race, but I just keep reminding myself to stick with the plan and keep going. This is about me breaking through the barriers of my own mind and training the machine that is my body to perform to its potential. I will likely be on that course for close to 6.5 hours, and I imagine I will be asking myself more than once, “Why the hell am I doing this?!” Thankfully, I know the answer to that question–because I love it. I love everything about it. I love the pain and I love the glory. I love knowing that I’ve done something I never imagined I could do before. And that is what will get me to that finish line.