I'm sitting here typing with a full stomach for the first time in several weeks. Ok, admittedly in a moment of weakness I may have gotten full once on an abnormal amount of dill pickles. But let me tell you, that kind of full doesn't stick with you long. This can only mean that I have an Ironman coming up and it's time to down some carbs. But let's start with me getting here...
I finished off the last of my workouts and tried to lie around as much as possible, which I pulled off pretty flawlessly. I didn't quite nail the sleeping at night part just before leaving, though. That was thanks to witnessing a woman getting hit by a car right in front of me, with her 9-year old daughter right behind her and somehow not getting hit. I was dead stopped in a big traffic jam on a city street, so it was safe for her to cross right in front of me. But it was dark and pouring rain and she didn't look to see if any cars were coming the other way and just ran right across. One of those awful things you could see coming but couldn't do anything about. I was sure I'd just seen two people get killed, but quickly saw the daughter was all right, and although the impact threw the woman quite a ways, landed her shoe right outside my car door and left her nearly immobile, she was conscious. And she also happened to get hit directly across the street from a fleet of ambulances and a team of EMTs who were on the scene in about 30 seconds. I don't know what the extent of her injuries were, but from the looks of it, she will probably be ok. The thing is I can't seem to get that image out of my head, and knowing that nobody was killed hasn't really helped. So, that did not help my getting to sleep that night. The worst thing of it was that she really never even looked to see if anyone was coming, just started running and there was no chance for the car not to hit her. And I swear I thought she had killed her own daughter. Just glad that's not the case.
So anyway, after that little sidetrack, let's get back to the other stuff... I drove up to Lake Placid by myself yesterday after getting my workouts done before leaving home. I'm one of those people who would rather get the "have to" stuff out of the way so that once I arrive at my destination, I don't have to rush to unpack and get more things done. Also makes for less packing and less workout clothes. I somehow made it in 4 hours door-to-door, including sitting and waiting for 10-15 minutes for the ferry to take me across from Charlotte to Essex. I know some people are annoyed by the ferries and try to take alternate routes (and there are LOTS of alternate routes, as one of those "can't get there from here" places and all of the back roads, there are literally dozens of options all within similar time/mileage ranges) But I like having the trip broken up a little like that. Especially as the driver, you can just sit back and relax for a bit.
Once I made it into the busy-as-always town I headed straight for registration. It was about 2:30 at that point, and in my experience, the best time to register for these things is during the later hours. Triathletes are crazy. You tell them something opens at 10:00 and several will probably start lining up at 9:00 or earlier, depending on exactly what it's for. Show up in those first hours and you're bound to wait in long lines. Hang out somewhere more comfortable and show up an hour before it closes and you're likely to walk right in. Which is pretty much what happened to me.
Nothing has changed at all in registration, except for the fact that there are 3013 race numbers and I don't listen that hard when the nice volunteer tells me which stickers go where on what bags. Am I supposed to cut them off and tell them I know what I'm doing? It seems rude, so I just let them go through it. Also, somewhere along that stretch of expo and registering I got asked several times if I'd done the race before. Well, yes. And sometimes it was followed up with "How many times?" It feels ridiculous to say that this is my seventh time here. How did that happen? And why do I keep torturing myself like this?
For the record, I looked it up, and the first year I did this race there were 2306 numbers, and the first year they ever had the race there were 1677 (not starters, but numbers - starters were always less) Last year? A little under 2600. 400+ more numbers in ONE year?!?!? And I thought I was going to get killed on the swim LAST year. I know I'm a veteran and I'm not supposed to get freaked out about such things, but I've done this race six times before. Every year has had more participants than the last, and every year I spend more and more of that swim fairly convinced that I am, in fact, going to drown due to the beating I'm taking from the sea of competitors trying to "swim" in such a tiny space that was so obviously not meant to support that many people. Anyway, looks like there were close to 500 no-shows last year. Which means we need about 1000 of the same this time to make it not worse than the last time I felt like I was going to die. For the love of God, please STOP adding so many people to these races! There IS a limit, you know. At some point it does become unsafe, and I'd argue we're past that point. What does it take for them to realize this? A 400 competitor increase is insane in one year. Let's just ignore the fact that I was a last-minute entry....
So, back to yesterday. I walked through the expo, which just gets less and less exciting somehow every single time. Then I had a wonderful afternoon of lying down. So wonderful, in fact, that I never left the room again. I suppose I could've gone out to dinner or something, but let me tell you, going out to dinner when you are so limited as to what you're supposed to eat is not only not fun, it's gotten to the point where it's just plain irritating. So I just gave it up a while ago. I did go out once in the last month, but only because I knew the restaurant had a salad bar. Somehow salad bars are exciting to me. I do like salad, but it does get annoying when it's practically all you eat.
Anyway, after hardly sleeping the night before, I did manage to sleep well last night. I was up really early though, so I got my workouts done nice and early. I love doing my workouts early up here, while hardly anyone else is out. I like it anywhere, really, but especially here. It was a chilly morning, so I threw on a jacket and headed out for 25 whole minutes of riding. I passed a few people walking their dogs, but it wasn't even 6:00 yet and I don't think a single person was even in the water as I rode around the lake. After that epic workout I got to run for ten whole minutes. Almost not even worth putting the shoes on, but off I went. I barely made it out of the hotel parking lot. Then down to the water for a swim. The downside to no more Gatorade at these events is no more Gatorade swim. They used to watch your stuff and give you Gatorade and water bottles and stuff. I must have 10 Gatorade water bottles at home, because I come home from each of these things with one or two. But no more. So with so few people in the water there was no worrying about swimming head on into anyone while we all did whatever distances we were going to do. The water was gorgeous, warm but not too warm and glassy.
Then, not even 7am and no more workouts to worry about, just how I like it. Somehow the rest of the morning passed fairly quickly. Oh, I did get one last massage with the amazing Courtney Wheeler, so that broke things up a little. My parents arrived just in time for us to go and get lunch. We ate at The Cottage over by the Mirror Lake Inn. And finally, FINALLY I got to order a sandwich. Let me just say, there are certain things I don't necessarily miss while eating "the core". I don't really miss pasta (I like it, I just don't really care about not eating it) I don't miss rice. I desperately miss cereal, and I really miss eating sandwiches. I mean, I had a turkey sandwich for lunch every day for probably ten years, and even once the streak ended and I branched out to things like caesar wraps or veggie wraps, turkey was still part of the regular rotation. So, to sit down at a restaurant and eat a turkey sandwich on nice, thick bread was heavenly.
The afternoon consisted of much lying around and a little nap, and before I knew it, it was time to eat again. This is my seventh time here, and every time I have had a great pasta dinner before the race at Jimmy's. There are probably a dozen Italian restaurants here in town, but we discovered this one the first time and why mess with what works? The food is great and they give you portions enough to make you full but not enough to make you think your stomach is going to explode. And although I said I didn't miss it that much, it was still nice to have some pasta. They make their own.
And now it's back to lying around and killing time before bed. Big breakfast tomorrow, dropping the bags off and then just waiting. Sunday is 6 years to the day of my first Ironman, July 25th 2004. I was a clueless 25-year old who didn't know anyone else first hand who had actually done one of these crazy things, so mostly I was just scared to death. I had absolutely no clue how the race was going to go. Thankfully, it was actually pretty decent. Things have obviously been up and down since then, but we'll see what happens. I definitely don't feel as ready as I've ever felt, but I don't feel as unprepared as I've ever felt either, so I guess that's something.
So that's about it. Nothing left to do now but wait and eat.
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