Final touches

It's the last day before race day! 

Jeremy and I woke up early to beat the heat to go do some final work down in the energy lab. The energy lab has such a reputation for being the place where people fall apart that I knew I'd be able to do a better job conquering it if I just saw it once. We tried to take some more pictures too. We've learned that we need a slightly better camera with a slightly better lens, but you can't beat the background of these things shots. 

We took my bike out to the lava rocks and tried to get some picture with my bike and the sea. We weren't the only ones either, although I think the other photographers out there are getting paid. 

After we felt warmed up and sharp, we headed back into town where we crashed the all-world athlete banquet. It was a banquet for the gold athletes only, which I am but I wasn't on the list. They let me in any way where we had a fairly simple breakfast of eggs and hash browns. The real draw was hearing Ironman legends speak on the panel, Matt Dixon, Mark Allen, and Dave Scott. The interview questions were pretty standard, but my takeaway from the event was be patient during the race and you won't regret it. 

Back at home I had to get my bike and bags ready for drop off. I couldn't believe the time crept up so quickly. Having a race on a Thursday is a strange thing, because you don't feel like the time has come yet. I had to lay everything out on the floor and double and triple check my lists to make sure I didn't miss anything going into these bags. I was relying heavily on Jeremy who has done 14 of these races to make sure that I packed correctly. I was especially nervous about my fueling on the bike. Before we left we had gone through and calculated out what we thought I'd need, but I was still concerned about how I was going to carry that fuel with me on the bike and make sure I put in the right pocket in T1. It's amazing how much stuff we travel if for these races but how little actually goes into these running bike gear bags. 

It was also time for bike check-in. I had heard stories about bike check being quite the parade with dealers lining the course, making tallies for every bike brand, component, pedal, helmets, bike computers, watches, and everything in between. I was so caught up at the moment that I forgot what half of my components were. 

But as I racked my bike on the pier it was very surreal. I've seen footage of this race for years with the helicopters hovering over the pier and the thousands of bikes racked there. Finally being an athlete on the pier with my bike was hard to truly comprehend. 

It didn't take me long to rack my bike but I didn't want to leave because it was such a special moment. I chatted with a few of the ladies next to me and found out that one of them was racing on her birthday! So that was going to be exciting for her. 

But as I was walking out I saw Jeremy waiting for me near the exit and I started doing a little happy dance. He asked if I was excited and I had to joke just a little bit I said. I was more than a little excited. The best part was is it wasn't the crazy nervous butterflies, but it was pure excitement. 

The rest of the day was time for feet up. We were lucky that our condo had air conditioning, because that was incredibly handy. The only unique race day prep was that I ended up braiding hair for some new friends!  Some ladies from the Facebook group were desperate to have braids for race day but couldn't find anyone available.  I'm no professional, but I am a mom who can braid.  So Sarah and Barbara dropped by for me to braid their hair.  It was a simple thing for me, but they were so, so happy.  Barbara as jumping up and down with excitement because she now felt like she was ready to roll.  Other than that it was a very standard night of chicken and rice for dinner and an early bedtime. Tomorrow is when we find out how preparation is gone and what kind of day the island has planned for us.