RACE REPORT, continued
wetsuit and said not to worry, just send him a check.
Marc had also gotten a pair of goggles that he hadn’t
paid for; I felt so terrible but really had no choice. Go
Canucks!
Dinner was great… both of our families were there.
I sat near my mom and sisters and they provided the
much needed comic relief that evening. We laughed
and chatted. Our good friend Marc (yes, spelled the
same) drove up from San Diego to cheer us on and
joined us for dinner. What could have been a stressful “night before” turned into a relaxed, fun dinner.
Two nights of restless sleep and the excitement of
the race had sapped my energy. We returned to our
hotel early, laid out our flat selves (scary that you
know exactly what that means), finalized some
odds and ends then both slept surprisingly
soundly.
BRRRRRIIIIINNGGGGG… hotel wake-up call…
it’s 3:45am, RACE DAY! We got dressed, ate at
the hotel (nice 4am breakfast), went back to our room for the
remaining three (whew!) bags, waited for the hotel shuttle and off
we went. Transition was full of people and there was an excitement in the air, but nobody wanted to waste nervous energy, so
it was quiet in a somber kind of way. Marc and I separated in transition with the promise to drop our stuff off then meet up for body
marking, etc. We needed to find my family because we brought a
bike pump and couldn’t leave it in the transition bags. If you have
trouble making friends, my advice is to bring a bike pump into
transition at an Ironman event; you’ll have people begging to be
your best friend all morning. After fending off the throngs of our
new bike pump friends, I tossed it over the fence to my
sister who had somehow talked
her way into the
restricted T1 area. She
said she just looked
“purposeful” and told a
volunteer she had to pick
up a “Sherpa bag;” they
let her right in. After
chatting with her and
then getting yelled at for
being one of the last people left in transition, Marc
and I made our way to the
swim. Oddly enough, I wasn’t nervous even though the
best description for my swim
speed is “not drowning.” Marc
actually seemed more
16
nervous than me. I almost lost him in the crowd
and got a little panic-y.
Another piece of advice… as
much as you would like to
think you can pick your loved
one out of a crowd, when the
crowd is dressed in wetsuits
and swim caps, everyone looks
exactly the same... like penguins. Darn, I at least wanted
to bid Marc a farewell and good
luck. Luckily, I found him.
Whew.
The swim entrance was moved
because the water level was so
low. We’d have to swim 3/10ths
of a mile to get to the start.
Geesh, tha \۸