Final Preps Before the Big Day

This weekend was such a whirlwind.  I'm going to have to break it up into multiple posts....


Thursday we picked up our packets.  It was a fairly short line and we walked through the expo a little bit.  I really just wanted to stay off my feet and that's what we did for most of the day.

Friday evening was low key.  There was an Athlete's Dinner and Meeting.  I didn't want to get caught up in the environment so I chose to go to an AKPsi Alumni Happy Hour instead on Friday night and then headed over to the tail end of the Athlete's Meeting.  Basically, I wanted to do whatever I could this past weekend to not feel nervous or intimidated and my plan worked.  I found Kerry and Edward at the happy hour and briefly caught up with them before I had to walk back to to the meeting.

At the meeting, I met up with Nick, Phil, Michelle, and Nate.  We listened to them go over a few precautions regarding the course and then it was time to head home.  

The four Dreamcatcher Fitness athletes -
all former Ironteamers and two couples.  ha ha

I had only been sleeping about 4-5 hours each night due to the craziness of work, packing, adrenaline, nervous energy, etc.  I knew that Friday night was the night I needed a solid amount.  I wanted 10 hours, but settled for 8 instead.


On Saturday, we had our practice swim.  It was only 20 minutes in the water and am very glad I did it.  

Lessons learned:  
1)  It was damn cold.  I swim in cold water so it wasn't anything I wasn't used to.  But, it was NOT what I was expecting from Arizona -- 61 degrees water temp.
2)  I couldn't see my hands.  The visibility was awful.  Basically, I felt the other swimmers before I saw them.  Hmm...I knew that would be problematic on Sunday morning.  I decided to not be upset if it took me an extra 5 minutes to get out of the water the next morning. 
3)  It was filthy.  I had a nice dirt beard when I exited. 
4)  It was tough to get up on those stairs from the water.  I learned I needed to get my knee up first, in order to get out.  Something they warned us about at the Athlete's Meeting, but I didn't really understand what they meant.  

5)  I was pretty damn impressed with myself at my lack of nerves.  I remember last year walking around that area and getting all choked up watching everyone exit the practice swim thinking, "These people are doing something amazing tomorrow."  But somehow I just put on my wetsuit, checked my bag, jumped in the water, was cognizant of the thoughts above and got out.  I never really thought about what I was doing the next day.  


From there, we did a short mechanical bike ride, got our gear together, and dropped off the bikes and bags.  

Later that afternoon, I had a bunch of my friends stop by.  I knew I wouldn't have time to see them during the race (or after) so this was my way to say hi to all my college friends, most of which were headed to the UofA v ASU game later that night anyway.  My dad thought I was crazy for hosting a "party" before Ironman.  It ended up being the best thing for me because I was distracted.  I knew my race plan already.  I reviewed it in my head one more time before bed.  Seeing everyone kept me distracted and happy, rather than building a snowball of nerves.  I was in bed by 10 and asleep by 11.