race report - phase 1: pre-race

I will try to make this as painless as possible...and as succinct as possible...and maybe as humorous as possible for those of you brave souls who actually read it. Warning - I know that I will never capture the emotions or feelings from that day adequately. I'll apologize in advance if I fail to thank everyone who deserves my thanks. If you had anything to do with me becoming who I am today either as a person or as a triathlete, I owe you a bucket full of gratitude. That being said, let me begin...
I have to take you back to the days before the race because I discovered that doing an Ironman is not just about race day. (Okay, I knew that...and I would need to rewind about 6 months to really capture it...but you can do that in my blog!) The energy around an Ironman is far more than just that day. It begins with registration on the race site (where you pretty much sign your life away as you collect your bib number and other items for race day), collecting your bike if you've used a service like TriBike Transport, getting your athlete wrist band, strolling around athlete's village, buying some gear pre-Ironman and praying that purchasing it doesn't jinx your race (we decided there was a difference between buying IMCDA gear and wearing it before we'd actually completed the race!), and, for us T3ers, hanging out with our teammates. It involves practice swims and double checking your bike and going for a little jog just to make sure that your legs still know how to run. It means trying to make your surroundings in your new "home away from home" as comfortable and relaxing as possible so that you can be in a good state of mind before the big (final training) day. It means surrounding yourself with friends who lift you up and who can calm your nerves when they start to get frayed. It involves driving the race course. And planning out nearly every meal so that you make sure you are getting the food that you need. Watching the weather reports. Which sort of deteriorated before our eyes - and then got a little better when we discovered that it was only supposed to rain in the afternoon/evening. At least we had a chance of being off the bike. (Rain + bikes is never a good combination...especially not when steep hills are involved!) Each day it seemed like there wasn't that much to do and yet suddenly it was dinner time and we were settling in for the night again. Thursday through Saturday flew by. Amy and Chrissie arrived to keep us company and keep us sane as non-racers on this particular day. And suddenly it was the night before the race.
For us, this meant dinner in our comfy CDA home (chicken, broccoli, sweet potatoes...and then chocolate milk before bed) and watching a little "Ghostbusters" - yes. An easy viewing, don't have to think much, will make you laugh distraction for Laura and me. And then early to bed...because it was early to rise the next day.