PreRace
It takes me all day Wednesday to pack. All athletes MUST check in by 4pm on Thursday, no exceptions. I think that is so absurd to have to check in 2 days before the race but what do I know? Sooo, most people that race an ironman have crazy support groups, be it family or friends but I was heading to The Woodlands alone because my Jeff had to work. I realize now that packing and planning for an ironman is far more extensive than a road race or crit. This is one reason why I am a cyclist...not a triathlete. I leave Thursday morning and meet up with 3 fabulous “Iron-Whiners” at checkin.
Linda is a good friend I swam with in High School (she is the reason I signed up for this race), Kris and Aixa are both super nice and were Linda’s training partners. I was unable to train much with them because I was racing early season road races. These girls would adopt me onto their team for the weekend, and they loved to wear matching outfits.
I would get text messages with “matchy-matchy” dress codes and it was a big hit everywhere we went. We were all in green and black matching lululemon outfits and scored interviews with Dave Erickson (Ironman bigwig) at the checkin expo. It was hilarious when he said I was a tell tale triathlete because of my tan lines. I looked into the camera and said, “I am a CYCLIST!” Then I told him I hadn’t done any open water swims because I was afraid of fish...I think he was unsure if I would finish the race at all. Linda offered out her goal for the swim, hoping to snag a sub hour swim.
Linda is a good friend I swam with in High School (she is the reason I signed up for this race), Kris and Aixa are both super nice and were Linda’s training partners. I was unable to train much with them because I was racing early season road races. These girls would adopt me onto their team for the weekend, and they loved to wear matching outfits.
After getting checked in and interviewed we had lunch and then went to the hotel. I was in a hotel room with Linda and the other two girls had their own rooms because everyone’s family was coming on Friday.
Friday comes and we still have a whole day to sit and stew and get nervous and have anxiety. The pre-race events are the most nerve-racking moments for me and I DO NOT LIKE the fact that it is so drawn out over 2 days of preparing. That is like 15 bathroom trips. ugh! We wake up to go check out the swim course. I decide to rebel and not match with the pink and white this morning and end up inadvertently matching Kris's most awesome husband Robert. That's some funny shit.
