My friend sent me money for the registration and the assurance that he was also registered and going to do the race.

So in a few days when the money hits my account I’ll register too.

I found myself surprised today at how excited I was to be doing this. It’s been well over a decade since I’ve done a triathlon and I’m pitifully out of shape. But I enjoyed doing them back then, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to figure out how to deal with the crowds. I don’t know how yet. But there has to be a way.
Once the race starts and most of the swim waves get gone it really isn’t very crowded usually. It’s waiting for the race to start, everyone queued up in their waves, waiting, fidgeting, pushing, crammed together. That gets me. So we’ll see what I can come up with to deal with the issues.