Thursday, July 23

We woke up to “It’s a Beautiful Day” by U2 just to get in the right frame of mine. The theme of the weekend was U2 and Black Eyes Peas “Good, Good Day” musically since these are very motivating songs. We packed up our swim materials and went up to Lake Placid to participate in the Gatorade bag check but we didn’t get our act together quickly enough so we didn’t make it in time to check our bags – oh well. When we got to the beach there were so many people and I had to remind myself that I belonged here. We got our wetsuit on, which was interesting because on Wednesday I had caught my leg on the door to my car and had a gash and a massive bruise exactly where my wetsuit rested on my leg. We got into the lake and started to swim. I couldn’t believe how many people were in the water. It was amazing. I just wanted to remain calm during the loop so I went out with the intent to just relax. I found my “zen” place when we were out. It was amazing. I swam my fastest loop of my training on the Thursday before Ironman with the little effort. I was getting a little nervous and caught up in the craziness because I had a moment when I though “I didn’t do enough today. All these people did so much more than I did today. Maybe I need to go for a run” but I calmed myself and made myself stick to my plan!!! I was ready and I needed to do what I was supposed to do.

We got changed and went to registration. I knew what to expect here because I had worked it last year and understood the process but I was still just really nervous as this meant I was actually going to do this thing. Joe and I were separated because I had a USAT card and he didn’t which was a little scary for me because he was my rock through all of this, reassuring me that I belong here. I got through the sign your life away line without crying and went to the weighing station where I was told that the head nurse needed to talk to me. Cora (the head nurse) was asking about my pain level from ankylosing spondylitis and shared her concerned with my asthma. She told me that I was to bring my inhaler to her at the start and if I needed it, then it would be easily available when I exited the swim between loops. She even highlighted my blue form and put it aside so that the people on the swim course knew that number 2001 had a medical issue. They wanted to be prepared just in case. I then was sent to Tammy another volunteer who gave me my wrist band and all of my stuff in an Ironman bag (which was really exciting because I didn’t know we would get that). Tammy was amazing, happy, and so excited for all of the athletes. She was the 4th volunteer that we encountered on this entire journey and all of the volunteers were absolutely amazing (THANK YOU!) When we left registration I couldn’t believe we were actually registered and were a part of this amazing race.

We went into the oval where we got to see all of the vendors and buy Joe a new watch as his broke when he had taken off his wetsuit today and I got Baker’s Breakfast cookies, Newton socks, and a t-shirt. Once we were done at the oval we went back to the camp to relax, eat dinner and watch a movie. Just unwind and then get a good night sleep.