A few days ago, John, his parents and I sat by Mirror Lake, relaxing and soaking up the vibe. It was a beautiful day, cool, partly cloudy, light winds. Swimmers dotted the course. Dogs frolicked along the lake shore. I sucked up the relaxed vibe, and realized that on Sunday morning (tomorrow morning!) it will be quite a different scene.
Despite our relaxation, I am seriously excited. I mean really ants-in-my-pants excited. The actions of the last several days have made this experience very real—we are going to do this.
Okay, yes, I knew we were doing the Ironman before. But, checking in makes the race a bona fide actuality. (You’d think the $575 Ironman Corporation charged to my credit card 12 months ago would do that, but not so much.) As we entered the check-in area, the sign that read “Athletes Only” gave me a chill. That’s us…
Upon checking in, we received our race bibs, gear bags, race stickers (for bike & gear bags), timing chip (an electronic device you wear on your ankle, which captures your time splits throughout the day), commemorative poster and an ironman bag. Yup, our participation is imminent.
In addition to picking up our race necessities, we met up with a variety of awesome triathletes—from Fireman Ironman Training Camp (Helloooo Charlotte!!), from Twitter (@alexgonzaelz, @jskells314, @ironmanlongrunr), and others that we met along the way. By far, one of the coolest aspects of races (running or triathlon) is the people. I absolutely love to meet and chat with people. We keep our ears open because some of the best tricks are those we have learned from veteran athletes. While each athlete ultimately has to made his/her own decision about racing and training strategy, taking advice from knowledgeable others is a key part of racing and training effectively. Everyone you meet is a teacher.
Today: after an easy workout just to keep the blood flowing, we’ll check in our bikes & gear, I’ll check in with the Janus Charity Challenge to report on the donations I’ve received thus far, and then it time for rest, rest, rest.
With less than a day to go until the race begins, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us throughout this journey. Your words of encouragement and your donations to the Iron Scholarship have continued to inspire and motivate John and I do keep going through the many challenges that we’ve faced during training.
On Twitter a few days ago, Doug (@ironmanlongrunr http://twitter.com/IronmanLongRunr ) tweeted, “Sunday is just a celebration of the completion of months of training. I will have a blast!” That’s my plan exactly.
