Bubble wrap and positive attitude

Today was one of those days where it seemed like the world woke up on the wrong side of the bed, including me.  I have no idea why - the weather was much better than it has been in the past few weeks (read: not an oven with added humidity).  Taper has been going OK, my appetite is finally calming down and the workouts are getting done.  I have plenty of time to pack, plenty of time to make sure I have all my i's dotted and t's crossed.  It was just one of those days.

With the race being a little over a week away, this is the time I start to get paranoid.  And when I get paranoid, I get cranky.  So maybe today's crankiness was early-onset paranoia.  I've been hand-sanitizing myself every five seconds or every time I touch a doornob, wall, refrigerator, anything in a public bathroom, anything on metro, anytime before I eat, anytime before I touch my food, anytime before I cook my food, anytime after I cook my food.  Life would be easier if I could just live in a vat of hand sanitizer until race day.  And don't tell me that hand sanitizer doesn't really work.  I don't need to hear that right now (hands covering my ears - lalalaallalalalaaaaaaa).  There will be no make-out sessions with Mr. Sweetie in the near future (he knows this is coming).  I've also been known to sleep in a separate bedroom leading up to races so I'm not disturbed by our menagerie of animals (I swear, I go to bed and it's like that scene from Ace Ventura when all of the pets flock to him from out of the woodwork).

Then there is biking outdoors.  I'm so freaked out that I'll have some sort of bike accident in these last few days before Placid.  It hasn't happened to me leading up to any of my past races, but there is always a first time.  This is about the time I start to spend more quality time with the trainer and push bike commuting aside, especially if there is no biking on my schedule for a particular day.  I'm also worried about twisting my ankle on a run, irritating my shoulder in swimming.  Basically, I feel like I should bubble-wrap myself for the next 10 days.

OR, I could just have a positive attitude, realize that the hard work is done and sometimes things happen that are out of your control and the only thing you CAN control is your attitude and how you choose to handle a situation.  One of my friends doing Placid with me this year had a run in on her bike with a car today.  BOTH she and the bike are in one piece, a little bumped and bruised, but they will be at the start line.  She has one of the most positive attitudes ever.  EVER.  And she's handled this crummy, bad day with a smile to balance out any tears and an upbeat outlook on everything - we could all benefit by looking on the bright side of things and finding the silver lining in a pile of poop sometimes.  I know I'm going to be trying to channel her positive attitude at mile 20 of the Ironman marathon.