Prior to Ironman Post 1 of 2

All of these months of training lead to 7/27/2014, IRONMAN day! The weeks leading up to Ironman I was afraid, excited, worried, petrified, in general all over the emotional board. I was so excited that this was happening though. We had such a great week before Ironman. I knew this was a special race for me for multiple reasons. This year, not only was I doing the race I wasn’t able to do in 2012, but I was doing this with a team and a coach. Everything about this experience was different from the 2009 and 2010 races I had done because of these people. They were all excited for their races and mine and the feeling was mutual. Leading into this race I knew that my coach had set me up really well for the race of my life but I still struggled on the bike and wasn’t feeling as confident in my swim as I had wanted to. I had expectations and I was trying to push them aside and just enjoy the experience but I just couldn’t. I wanted to succeed because I put in so much more time and effort than I had for the other two and I wanted my comeback to be better than the last two experiences. I was really concerned about the bike cutoff but I knew I had done all I could to get myself to the finish line. Ironman isn’t just one day, it is a multi-day extravaganza highlighted by the race on Sunday. This is my journey! Thursday – Check-in: I was so excited about getting my Ironman blue jewelry! I loved that most of the team went together to get their bracelet with us. I had worked registration in the past so I knew what time to go and have no line so it was literally just our team getting their swim caps, stickers, and timing chips! That blue bracelet meant I made it to the race. I was excited! We then went shopping! Well, Joe and I wandered around and only bought a couple of cow bells and a towel with our names on it. Our team loco tent ended up becoming a nice place to hang out for the rest of the afternoon too! That afternoon brought a very helpful message from my friend Missy. She knew I was struggling with confidence when it came to the race. She sent me the message I sent her before her first Ironman. I read it and was so excited again. I basically wrote myself my own pep talk in 2011! I didn’t even know that I had done that for myself. I needed this little reminder of all of the amazing things that an Ironman can hold and I got excited again. Friday – Speedo /Underwear run, phone booth photos, IronKids run, dinner, and welcome ceremony: Friday morning we met for some pictures and then walked down to the NormaTech booth in the oval. They allowed us to sit in their lovely chairs and go through the cycle of a NormaTech massage. It was perfect. I would love those. It was great! My legs and back felt so much better after this! We then did the Speedo run with the Buffalo Tri team. This was a blast! Super slow running while dressed in pink striped knee-high socks, pink running shorts, a striped pink sports bra, fairy wings, and a pink boa! This was just fun and I needed fun to take my mind off of the race. After the race, the girls packed up their stuff and went down to the Upper Jay phone booth and took pictures. Yet again, a great fun time that was distracting from the long day that lay ahead on Sunday. Then there was the IronKids race. My nieces had modified their Team Loco shirts so they looked fierce! They were all going to run the mile on Mirror Lake Drive. IronKids gives some pretty nice swag too – each kid got a cowbell, a t-shirt, a bumpersticker that said IronKid, m-dot temporary tattoo, a drawstring bag, and a bracelet for $15. Plus, they had Mike Reilly starting each race and bringing them home saying “You are an IronKid!” All of the kids had no idea how much we adults really want Mike Reilly to say our names at the end of an Ironman and he is standing in the chute with them and high fiving and they have no idea how exciting this is! The girls all rocked and had a blast. It was so much fun! Then we went to dinner with a few of the local athletes to talk about the day and share in the excitement of the event. Joe and I then went to the Welcome ceremony which was completely different than it had been in the past. At this point, I was really stressing out over the bags which had to be put into transition on Saturday so we went home and tried to make sure everything was together and get some sleep. Saturday Saturday is always a stressful day for me before Ironman. Do I have all of my things? Did I put my running shoes in the bag? How can I make sure these things don’t get wet in the rain that is coming? I just wanted to get my bike ride over with and check things in. Shauna and Colin arrived while we were in the thick of Joe’s power meter not working and my mental chaos. Biked 20 min – I just needed off. Dropped off bags and bikes. Swam 20 min and realized that I incorporated something that Mark and Joe pointed out about my swim stroke on Wednesday and it was immediately helpful – yup, I learned how to swim better the day before Ironman. We showed Shauna and Colin how to get around and went home to distress (because that was possible).