Wednesday 4/9/2008 : 3 Days to go...
Wow, I can't believe it's almost here. Packed my clothing, shoes, helmet, bike, wetsuit, heart rate monitor, food, medicine, guitar, laptop... Am I missing anything...? Getting a bit paranoid. Oh yeah, that's right... I forgot to pack my mind. Where did it go?
Driving to Tempe tomorrow morning, I can't believe a year just flew by. I tried the best I can to block out the race for the past couple weeks. But my aching left foot kept reminding me that it's coming up soon and I'm still injured. I am worried and don't know what's going to happen on Sunday. I just know that I put in a year of training and it's not the time to back out now no matter how much I want to. Ready or not, here I go. Just do the best I can. I'm actually unbelievably calm tonight. Maybe it's ignorance. Or maybe it's because I know there's absolutely nothing more I can do. One thing I do dread, is the weather forecast of 93 degrees in Tempe this Sunday. Trying to remain positive. And preparing myself that whatever happens happens. I'll just keep trying my best. That's the lesson ultimately, isn't it? Keep trying and never give up. Life's full of surprises and obstacles. And some things are not meant to go your way. But the most important thing is to never give up.
When I signed up for this race, it was all heart. And I suspect that it's going to take that same heart to pull through on race day. Maybe I'll just hop on one leg. Who knows.
Finishing was the original goal. But what I realize that's more valuable, is what this year of preparation has taught me about myself and my life. Everyone says that doing an Ironman changes your life. It certainly does. In so many ways that I had never imagined.
It's midnight. Time to go to bed. 3 days to go.
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Thursday 4/10/2008 : 2 Days to go...
12:09 pm... parking off of exit 81 off Fwy 10... I ran out of gas. I guess I really forgot to bring my mind. There's a first time for everything isn't it? First time to do a full distance Ironman. First time I ran out of gas in the middle of Arizona desert. Shoot. Sigh. Thanks to Verizon wireless, I get to kill the next hour blogging while waiting for AAA roadside assistance. Good to know all those hundreds of dollars in membership equals 2 gallons of gas. Unleaded no less. Sigh. Apparently, you can't call and request gas unless you're absolutely down to an empty tank and the car is stalling. Their agent told me to call them back when my car is stalling... and I was like... um... my gas monitor says I have 3 miles left and I'm in the middle of desert!!!!! I rather pull off an exit safely than stalling on a fwy that everyone's flying by at 90mph. But nope, I have to keep driving until my car chooses to stall at an unsafe spot whenever it chooses to... Things and rules that don't always make sense in this world. And the idiots that choose to enforce them. So retarded. They could've easily look up and see I'm easily 1 hour away from any gas station and 3 miles worth of gas isn't going to cut it!!! Arguing with an idiot never works... luckily I reached the next exit in time. Pulled off, and just called them back. This time I'm smarter and answered their questions correctly. Yes, no, yes, yes, help, help... Phew. Good, I got it right this time. So now help is on the way. I can see this race is off to a good start...
Got some gas, got some lunch, back on the road to Tempe... hmm... scrolling thru my ipod for driving music. There! Theme song of the day... "American Idiot".
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Friday 4/11/2008 : 1 Days to go...
Today is errands day. Got up early and got to the lake trying to get in an early morning swim. But when I got there I realized that it's not a good idea after all. As it turns out, the lake that we're supposed to swim in for the race is so polluted that they almost had to cancel the race. So they've been pumping in all kinds of things this past couple weeks trying to clean up the lake and finally got it under legal limit by about 0.1. So… great. Here's the scary looking murky green water full of algae and barely legal that I'm supposed to soak in for 2 hours on Sunday. If I'm going to get sick from swimming, might as well do it on race day instead of today. Right? Gotta remember not to swallow any water during the swim. Let's hope that I don't get kicked in the face again this time. As I stood there by the lake, I looked around and saw nothing but super fit ironman triathletes all around me. They're lean and cut and just ridiculously fit. Damn. Where are all the fat normal folks like me? I felt so out of place. Well… I did shrink my muffin top a little… You can see these people running and biking all around town getting ready for the big race. While I'm driving down in my air conditioned Lexus sipping iced tea. Thinking, hmmm… maybe I'll grow up and be like them someday… Just maybe. A girl can dream, can't she? Ok… I'm putting that brownie down now…
I went to pick up my race packet and the guy at registration asked me, "are you ready?". "Nope!" I replied quickly. With all these injuries I just don't feel confident. But if I'm healthy? Then yes. I think I did everything I could and supposed to. But who knows what's gonna happen? It's predicted to be 95 degrees and may be windy. That number keeps going up every time I check the website. Damn. That's gonna suck. Let's hope the weather man is wrong again…
You know what's the best part about doing an ironman? It's that I get to eat whatever hell I want for an entire week! So I had everything that I normally love but avoid. I had clam chowder, steak dinner, mashed potato, gravy, burrito, pastas, garlic bread, pink lemonade, chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream, chocolate macadamias, and espresso brownie! Yum! All in the name of carbo loading. I know… I know… it's more of an excuse. But I'm sticking to my story!
It was so cute when my friend's 4 years old son was making her signs today to put along the race route. My favorite one says, "Run! Mommy, Run!" My family gets in town tomorrow. Yay!
Yikes… 1 more day to go until the crazy race day!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Saturday 4/12/2008 : Night before the race..
It's rest day today. I scoped out the bike course. It looks long… sigh. Like, 8 hrs long… yikes. Besides that, I basically just ate and rest all day today. Trying to stay out of the sun. Kinda nice. Wow, it's here. It's finally here. It's really here. I think the nervousness finally kicked in tonight. Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! IT'S HERE!!!! Ok… breathe… exhale… good. Please remain calm and head to the nearest exit. Wait, where's the exit? There's no exit on this one! Crap, I guess I'll just have to do it.
It'll all be over tomorrow night at midnight! And then summer officially starts for me. 
It's Ironman eve. Ready or not, here I go.
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