Twelve Hours and Counting!

It's Ironman Eve and we finally got our Wi-Fi working well enough to write a final pre-race blog post. We got here Thursday afternoon, and apparently there was a bad storm here Monday night that knocked out power everywhere and internet access is still spotty.

Once we got here, I had to go register, get all of my gear bags, get weighed-in (so they know whether I'm too dehydrated at the end of the race, in which case there is an IV tent). After that, we did a little sight-seeing downtown before we went back to the condo.

I met Deanne first thing Friday morning for our last training swim. We did one loop of the course. There were so many other people out there training, I even had someone swim over me once. It was good practice, because I'm expecting a lot of that on race day: 3000 people all swimming in that little lake at the same time. Whew! That night, Deanne and I had a mandatory race meeting. Getting out of that thing was like trying to leave a concert at Great Woods. It took us over an hour just to get out of the parking lot.

When I dropped Deanne off, I finally got to meet her PA family who had just gotten into town. After hearing about them for so many years, I felt like I already knew them. They were every bit as warm, funny and crazy as Deanne had described. I can't wait to see them out on the course!

My final race preparations for today were to check in my bike and drop off my gear bags. It took me two hours to pack all of these bags. But I love where my bike is racked -- right next to the finish! Once all of this was done, I finally started feeling less nervous. Everything is where it's supposed to be, I'm here, and now all I have to do is go for a swim, a bike ride, and a run. It's not rocket-science, right??

Our condo looks right out over Lake Placid and there is a small beach where the kids can swim, and a restaurant. It's pretty awesome. I'm glad we're not staying right downtown because it is HECTIC right now with nervous athletes. I'm happy to be somewhat removed from all of that. For now.

My plan for tomorrow is to be up at 4am, eat, get dressed, and head to the shuttle at 4:30 to get to the race site. From there I have to get body-marked, drop off my Special Needs bags, put all of my water bottles on my bike, and then go for a short warm-up swim. Then.....wait for the cannon to go off!

So, this is it. This time tomorrow I will hopefully be 1/2 way through a marathon. And I'm especially excited to know that my cheering squad all arrived safely yesterday: Patty, Bonnie, Cindy, Deb and Rachel -- I'll be looking for you!!