“Proper prior preparation prevents poor performance.” That was a line I heard fairly often back in my Air Force days (seems like a complete other lifetime now), and it spoke to the notion that a bad day is often the result of our own actions, or inaction, as the case may be.

I am thinking of the “6P’s” because a cursory look at the calendar reveals that this year’s Seventy48 race is only seven weeks away. To go from Tacoma to Port Townsend, by water and under your own power, is not something that you can roll out of bed and just do. At least, I don’t think so. It’s a function of the need to make good distance happen during the appropriate times, to manage time, sleep, weather and tide in a way that will allow you to finish the course before the race ends at the 48-hour mark.

I don’t think I’ve been getting as much of that proper prior preparation as I should be lately. Life has a knack for getting in the way of the best intentions and that’s how it’s been going around here for the past couple of months. I would be lying if I said I’m not concerned about what that means for my prospects, but I like to think that there’s still time to get on the stick and make it happen.

Of course, there’s another saying that also comes to mind: “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.”