If I were feeling more prolific and profound I would write a bunch of stuff about how different this year is. I would reminisce about how fit I was in 2009 when I raced B2B and how I started working again in 2010 and never trained but still raced and how I kept on racing in 2011 and it got worse and worse and worse until I finally crashed my bike at Vineman at mile 13 on the bike but I finished the race and then went into shock and got really sick and then I got MRSA in my injuries and couldn’t train for weeks and then how deflated and fat and inept I felt. And then I could talk about how I tried to come back in 2012 and signed up for Ironman Canada in Penticton but I was all whiney and bummed out about my lack of fitness plus I had a really painful neuroma and couldn’t ride my bike more than 50 miles without it killing me and I couldn’t really run so I withdrew from the race. And then in 2013 I signed up again and I was training (or so I thought) but then I broke my thumb and that tanked my training but I showed up anyhow and raced but pulled out at what turned out to be about mile 102 on the bike only I thought it was mile 95 and I only had an hour and no way to make that (but I could have made it).  And here I am again and although I’m working I have a different job that doesn’t own me and my neuroma is still there but not so bad and I am training for real and I fit feel and strong again.  And this is what that looks like:

I’m not sure I tracked my swimming before last year but anyhow, I think we see a trend and I’m feeling good about my race this year.  May 12 is when I broke my thumb so if I keep making these charts we can expect to see the delta between last year and this year grow – and that’s a good thing.