Night Before the Race...

How did it get here so fast?  When I woke up this morning and realized that it was my last normal morning waking up it seemed impossible.  And yet I had to get up and make my way to the Cheesecake Factory for the QT2 breakfast.  No, we did not eat cheesecake.  But one of the athletes on the team works for the corporate office apparently and had this awesome breakfast set up just for us.  Sure beat Denny's, let me tell you.  Eggs, hash browns, toast, really good pancakes, it was great.  I managed to get sufficiently full without crossing that line into feeling like I might explode.  Perfect.

Next it was time to go drop off my bags and bike.  Let me just say that the Ironman Texas athlete guide is nearly useless when it comes to information on where to go and, more importantly, where to park for everything.  First I had no idea really where to park for the expo and just wound up getting lucky stumbling upon the expo and finding someone pulling out of a spot just as I drove up.  Otherwise mostly athletes were parking quite far away and walking around trying to figure out where to go.  Then today for transition I really had no clue where it was aside from a very general location and again, no indication on where I should park.  Fortunately I found another athlete walking along with his bike who knew where he was going because he had already driven around and figured it out.

Once I got there, dropping everything off was quick and painless and I headed back to my hotel after picking up a sandwich.  Fortunately that sandwich was not from Subway.  Then began a long afternoon of doing just what I needed to do: nothing.  I ate, I took a nap that I tried not to let go on too long so I couldn't fall asleep nice and early tonight, I watched TV, mixed up my bottles and got my stuff laid out for the morning and that was pretty much it. 

It's very strange staying by myself for this race.  In some ways it's kind of nice because I like to be kind of completely in control of when I do things before the race and I'm certainly used to being by myself lately, but it's still just kind of weird.  And not that I usually have too many issues, but it is certainly going to be interesting after the race when I don't have anyone to make sure I can still, like, move and stuff.  Oh, well, at least I pre-emptively purchased some post-race treats so I won't have to go anywhere to get anything when I wake up in the middle of the night starving.  Or, more accurately, when I just decide I need more food as I lie awake completely unable to fall asleep all night long due to spending the day ingesting obscene amounts of caffeine and sugar in the form of sports nutrition products along with throbbing pain throughout my entire body that won't allow me to get comfortable.  Really, I promise it's a good feeling.

So if all goes well, by this time tomorrow night I should not only be done, but maybe even already enjoying some celebratory post-race food.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to really enjoy it given the wreck my stomach is sure to be after a long, hot race, but I am sure at that point I won't care.  I'll have 1800 miles of driving home to enjoy lots of road treats instead of my more recent drives that have involved water and protein bars.  Yes, due to the heat I am supposed to take in fifteen bottles of fluid over the course of the bike alone.  For those of you who might not fully understand what that means, that's three hundred ounces.  It will be interesting to see how that goes. 

Currently the rest of my family is at my cousin Kevin's wedding, for which I've already seen a few pictures on facebook.  It's too bad I had to miss it but hopefully tomorrow will make that and this entire excursion worth it.  It's time to see if I can finally get one of these races right.  At least I feel mentally and physically prepared.  Now all I have to do is execute the plan.  We shall see what happens...