race report - phase 2: race morning!

Woke up to an overcast day but no rain...yet. It was just below 48 degrees and really wouldn't get much warmer as the day went on. Laura and I ate breakfast around 3:30 a.m. - you need time for it to digest and for all systems to get going. Cereal with a banana for me. Tried to munch on some toast, too. Am thinking I need to figure out a way to eat more next year. (Oops...guess that cat is out of the bag...I've signed up for CDA 2010!!! But that's another story for another time!!!) After breakfast, I gathered my stuff, listened to part of the "Pump it Up" mix that LAL and Christy had made for me (thanks, guys!), put on my swim stuff and then my comfy pants, compression socks, long-sleeved T3 tech shirt, red Nike slip-ons, and my T3 hoodie (these were the clothes I wanted at the end of the race...and, oh, how I needed them. After 14 hours with the rain coming down for the last part of it and only 50 degree weather I needed something to warm up!).
We headed to the race site...got body marked before going in. And then fixed up our bikes. Added water to our aero bottles, pumped up our tires, re-checked our Bento boxes, re-set bike computers, etc... Quick trip to our swim-to-bike bags and bike-to-run bags to add last minute items like Gus or water bottles. And to double check that everything we left there the night before was still there! I haven't heard crazy stories from this year but at other races people have been known to mess with other people's stuff - removing arm pads on bikes, etc... I know. It's insane to think that people do that, but apparently they do. Clearly I wasn't enough of a threat to anyone to tempt strangers to mess with my stuff!
Final bathroom run. And then to the transition area where we checked out the ladies transition tent for future reference. Found Joe, Logan, Jim, Booher, and Sunday and it felt good to be with them. We ended up putting our wetsuits on together which was relaxing.
Guess this is a good time to talk about nerves. I'd been pretty calm since I arrived at CDA. I'm not sure why. I'm usually a nervous wreck before something like this but for some reason my nerves were under control this time. I even had the composure not to worry about what hadn't happened yet - like bad weather, etc... Maybe this Ironman training has done something to me in making me ready to handle whatever comes my way?! Well, that might be stretching it but I was glad to be in the place that I was. I was the excited sort of nervous in the days leading up to Sunday. And Sunday morning was really no different except for that the nerves had become butterflies in my stomach and I could feel the adrenalin pumping as soon as we started walking down to the race site. Just kept breathing and trying to use the energy that was all around me for good. It's really easy to get sucked into other people's emotions when you are surrounded by SO many emotions. For that reason, I was really glad to have so many teammates around. I find comfort in familiar faces and they were certainly a calming force for me that morning...thank you, thank you, T3.
When we got kicked out of the transition area (around 6), Laura and I went in search of Amy and Chrissie so that we could give them our morning clothes bag. So long hoodie, pants, T3 tech shirt, compression socks, and red Nikes...see you at the end of the day. That was a weird thought!
We found Blythe, Jim, Liz, and Matt so that we could start the swim together. Our plan was to at least go rushing into the water together so that when we got kicked we would know that it wasn't anyone doing it intentionally! Little did we know the mass start, the choppy water, and swimmers behaving badly would foil our little plan after the first couple of strokes. Still, it felt good to stand on the beach among friends.
Standing on the beach as the helicopter hovered over the CDA resort and as the national anthem was sung, I was surrounded by what looked like a beach full of upright seals as 2500+ people on Neoprene found their places. Laura and I giggled a little. And then my stomach jumped into my throat and I must have gotten very quiet because Blythe turned to me and said, "Are you okay?" I said, "Yeah...I just need this to start." Liz was all smiles - a veteran among us she said this part always made it feel real to her. Yes, it was very real. The floating Ironman in the water. The crowds on the beach. And then the cannon. The rush into the water. And we were off...