Long Island Gold Coast Tri

My first Tri is on Sunday and I can feel the nervous rush already. It's a sprint distance race and starts in Port Washington, NY. For those who are reading this and aren't already exposed to triathlons, there are 4 basic distances for races: the Ironman - super long distance race - 140.6 miles and broken down into a 2.4 mile swim, 112 bike and a 26.2 run. The Half Ironman a.k.a. 'Tinman' (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), Olympic Triathlon 1.5 km swim, 40km bike and 10 km run and then finally the Sprint Triathlon at 750 meter swim, 20km bike and 5 km run. 

I picked up my race package yesterday uptown and I seem to have made a mistake in my registration... I'm in the second swim wave (meaning I am logically, in the second fastest group of athletes)... uhm... oops. I fully anticipate getting passed by the 4 and maybe even the 5th swim waves while still in the water. A lot of people have warned me to expect getting kicked, slapped, and grabbed during the water start because it's hard to see where you are going but I'm hoping my polo experience can prepare me for that pretty well. 

I'm going to pack tonight much more fully and I will see what I'm missing. I'll write more soon!