In case you didn’t know, 3:30am comes really early!! I felt good when I got up, I slept far better that I had thought I would and I was surprisingly calm. Mom got up when I did and we quietly started getting ready. I had my normal breakfast of eggs, bacon, cheese and toast. I also started hydrating early. Mom and I had stuff pretty well organized the night before so we were ready pretty quickly, we loaded up the Jeep and checked out. While helping MK and KB get loaded up, MK asked me if I was nervous. It’s funny, because I felt like I should be, but I wasn’t, in fact I was way too calm. Once we were all loaded up we headed over to the beach. I’m not going to lie, we had rock star parking! We unloaded our bags and with headlamps on headed toward the bright glow of the ironman village.
There is an excitement in the air at an Ironman event, it’s an interesting mix of excitement and complete terror! I was in the excited category, my only issue was a nagging pain by my right hip, it was sharp and persistent, but I did what I could to ignore it. We got there early enough that transition was pretty empty, I found my spot and got my transition stuff setup neatly under my bike.
I wondered around transition a little bit and must have been doing something right because a young man stopped and said “excuse me, but you clearly know what you’re doing, could you help me find my rack spot?” I wanted to reply with something like “dude, it’s a total illusion!!” But I helped him find his spot and wished him good luck.
I found MK and we wondered over to her transition area, I made a couple of suggestions, I was concerned about her stuff getting kicked around by people flying by on their way out of transition. I wondered around, taking in the sights and sounds. I was really shocked by how many people were just now checking in their bikes and going to body marking. I was really glad we did all of that yesterday. However I found one of the black markers they were using to put numbers on people and I quickly scribbled #8 on the inside of my left forearm, by brother and his words from last night would go with me!
I found the mom and KB and finally decided to take something for the pain in my side. I waited in line at the potta-potties with what seemed like all 2500 athletes. The hint of daybreak was finally creeping into the eastern sky and with it a couple thousand people scrambled into wetsuits and swim caps and headed for the water.
They had a nice little area in the middle of the swim course setup as a warm-up area. MK and I posed for a couple of pictures and then made our way out to the lake. The water seemed perfect, it was warm and calm. I didn’t spend much time in the water. I saw MK briefly before she headed over to the start area, she was in the first swim wave. I spent some time with the mom and KB and got an interesting piece of advice, “be selfish today, focus on yourself”. That’s a really weird concept for me. But it gave me something to think about while I was waiting.
There is an excitement in the air at an Ironman event, it’s an interesting mix of excitement and complete terror! I was in the excited category, my only issue was a nagging pain by my right hip, it was sharp and persistent, but I did what I could to ignore it. We got there early enough that transition was pretty empty, I found my spot and got my transition stuff setup neatly under my bike.
I wondered around transition a little bit and must have been doing something right because a young man stopped and said “excuse me, but you clearly know what you’re doing, could you help me find my rack spot?” I wanted to reply with something like “dude, it’s a total illusion!!” But I helped him find his spot and wished him good luck.
I found MK and we wondered over to her transition area, I made a couple of suggestions, I was concerned about her stuff getting kicked around by people flying by on their way out of transition. I wondered around, taking in the sights and sounds. I was really shocked by how many people were just now checking in their bikes and going to body marking. I was really glad we did all of that yesterday. However I found one of the black markers they were using to put numbers on people and I quickly scribbled #8 on the inside of my left forearm, by brother and his words from last night would go with me!
I found the mom and KB and finally decided to take something for the pain in my side. I waited in line at the potta-potties with what seemed like all 2500 athletes. The hint of daybreak was finally creeping into the eastern sky and with it a couple thousand people scrambled into wetsuits and swim caps and headed for the water.
They had a nice little area in the middle of the swim course setup as a warm-up area. MK and I posed for a couple of pictures and then made our way out to the lake. The water seemed perfect, it was warm and calm. I didn’t spend much time in the water. I saw MK briefly before she headed over to the start area, she was in the first swim wave. I spent some time with the mom and KB and got an interesting piece of advice, “be selfish today, focus on yourself”. That’s a really weird concept for me. But it gave me something to think about while I was waiting.
