Well if Morrowind and Oblivion are any indication, I'll be spending the first 2 hours of my time with the game, going through every race, changing the sliders, and see what I can make. Then, and only then, will I be able to decide. My first two characters in both Morrowind and Oblivion were Dark Elves, but my 'main' character in Morrowind was an Argonian, and for Oblivion it was a High Elf.
So I have no idea, really. Nords seem pretty bad-ass, but I'll have to go with my gut after much screwing around.