the starting line

well, the time is here. it has been 1 year since i stood in line on the cold rainy monday morning to get my golden ticket to participate in this event. and all i can say is that the journey to get here has been amazing. it has had its ups and downs with compromises that have been made, but overall the journey has been memorable. i think the hardest thing i have done so far is to train for the event. trying to balance work, sleep, eating, training, and hanging out with friends has been taxing, yet rewarding.

i spent yesterday soaking in the ironman ambience. at registration in the morning there were people that have all done similar things to get here. we probably all have different reasons for racing, different traning plans to get us to the starting line, different goals to get us to the finish line, but in the end we are all here to race, to have a good day, and to finish the race. i couldn't believe all of the stuff on display. i felt like a little kid in a candy store....with a credit card. luckily i did exhibit some restraint, but i wonder if i should have gotten more...

the opening dinner was good. there was a good video, some interesting discussion with some people. oddly enough it was not as anxiety provoking as i thought it might be. i didn't really spend much time thinking about other people. the truth is that lots of them will be faster than me. lots of them will have spent lots more time (and money) on training and toys. i am going to race my race tomorrow. i've got no one to beat, just that little clock at the end as it starts to tick away. and, there is only one thing that i can control...and it's not the weather, and it is not the 2400 other people racing...

all of my transition bags are packed, stuff is ready to go. my T1 bag is kind of funny, it has all of my usual T1 stuff (not really that much) plus a long sleeve shirt, windbreakers, and full fingered gloves. those are in a separate bag inside the big bag just to help organize. at the athlete dinner last night paula newby-fraser basically said, if you brought it along, put it in the bag...with the weather forecast changing as many times as it has over the past several days, i figure it will be race morning decision.

my family arrives this afteroon, that should allow for enough time for dinner, making signs, going over the course, etc. until then, breakfast, a quick swim to loosen up, bring in the bike, bring in the transition bags, relax a little this afternoon.

140.6 more miles to go.

lets put this in perspective...the distance from my house in chicago to madison is 143 miles.

see you at the finish line