I feel sick

It's more than six months away, and I have butterflies already. For real.
I don't feel compelled to post crap on my Facebook page about this, because honestly I haven't even officially registered online for the race. But after inviting two friends to do it with me, one has already registered and I know the other has done the race before, so he will too. Time to pony up the effort and join in.
I'm planning to run the Racine Half Ironman next July in Racine, WI.
Holy crap.
The last couple of weeks, after talking with Steve about it, I've begun to convince myself that really, I can do this. I mean, I've biked way more than 56 miles before, and I've run a half marathon now after doing the Chicago Rock and Roll half with Ann last summer. But this is biting off both of those, plus a monster swim, in one day. Who knows, it might just take me exactly that long to finish.
I suppose that ultimately what makes me nervous are two things.
1 - the amount of training I'll have to put in to make sure I don't conk out that day and
2 - i've had some serious butterflies the day or two before other much shorter races.. i'll likely just crap my pants before this one.
I'm SO glad that Gary and Steve are doing this too. There's no way i would have agreed to take this on without knowing those guys will be suffering too. Steve has done a full Iron Man before, and I think even a couple of halves. But Gary will be doing his first triathlon, PERIOD, next summer. Granted, he's a running stud who has done numerous marathons including Boston, and I think has broken the 3-hour mark before. Yikes.
But both are good friends and will be tremendous help in getting to the finish line, even though I'll likely not see much of them during the race!
So I sit here in mid-December, wondering how and when I'll start my training for this thing. I've been a major slacker since the fall, mostly a come-down after the half marathon in Chicago. First of all, I'll have to get back into the swing of my early-morning workouts. I don't think I've gone more than once that early in the last few months. But I guess if I start now, I can work up to those distances gradually..
1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and 13.1 on the run.
It's the stuff of nightmares, really.
But what better way to put a stamp on my 40th year than to add this to my list of accomplishments.