Ironman's Past

This year is going to be my 4th year in a row participating (in some capacity) in Ironman Canada. I spectated at Ironman a few times prior to 2006, but my real journey started almost exactly 3 years ago.

2006
I did my first Half Ironman in 2006, the New Balance Half in Victoria, I did way better than I expected (bronze medal!), and it was then that I officially decided that I was going to sign up to do the full Ironman. That meant I was required to be in Penticton for the 2006 race as I had to sign up the next day. Leon, Alison, Aria and I moved back to Calgary (from Victoria), one week before IMC 06, I hate long drives, so it was painful and boring, but I survived it thanks to my extensive library of Celine Dion albums. So it was only 6 days later that I had to get back into the car and do that long, awful drive again! Luckily, this time my dad agreed to join me as long as we followed his "road trip rules". Involving: no talking, no pee breaks, no up-beat-ganster-music ("kids these days!") and no touching anything in his perfectly clean car. It was great (maybe not... but it was nice to have company). We only drove up the day of the race because we couldn't find accomodations for the day before, but we got to Penticton in plenty of time to see Jasper Blake come flying across the finish line.
I was exceptionally stressed out (which became a reacurring theme for the next year) about registering for the race as 2007 was the 25 year anniversary for IMC and was expected to sell out of entries. I lined up at 3 am to insure I got an entry, it was fine because that's normally when my dad gets up anyways. The line started moving at 9am, I was registered by about 9:05 am... and that's when it all began... We got back in the car and drove home that morning.

2007
This was a very big year for obvious reasons. I trained all 364 days since I signed up, and I thought about Ironman every one of those days as well. We turned IMC week into our annual family summer vacation. We rented a house in Kelowna (beautiful house and location, but staying in Penticton would have been a MUCH better idea!), my immediate family, UB and AR, Zoe and Arin (training partner) and Tracey and Oly (neighbors) all came. It was so much fun, we had such a great time, however I wouldn't consider it much of a vacation for me because I was distracted with any number of things that made me stressed out (weather, what to wear, what to eat, if I would finish, how my crossing the finish line picture would look - very important details!). After a long, long, LONG day for all of us, I did finish, I became an Ironman and all I could think about was what I was going to eat! I cried for 3 days straight after I finished Ironman because I wasn't sure what else to do with myself, perhaps it was withdrawl or perhaps I was crying out the excessive amout of salt tablets that my body rejected approximately 20 km into the run portion. UB made the early morning journey into Penticton the day after the race to sign up, and thus started his journey.

2008
This was UB's Ironman year, however, we carried on the tradition and made it our annual family vacation week. Again, we stayed in Kelowna, and it was so much fun having Aria just a little bit older, she really got into the race this year! After being so eternally grateful for and SO impressed by all of the volunteers, I decided that I wanted to volunteer for this race. I chose to be a bike catcher in T2 because I thought this would give me the best chance to have a few minutes with UB when he was in transition, which was our primary reason for being there. I loved volunteering! I wore all of my IMC 07 "finisher" attire with pride and I loved being in the transition area to really see what a fine tuned operation that goes on for all the racers. I did not, however, enjoy getting bikes hurled at me with extreme force (mainly from the pros), nor did I like the fact that I am well aware that racers relieve themselves while biking during the race. Gross. I think I would chose a non-contact volunteer position next time. I would LOVE to volunteer in the medical tent as that is right up my alley, but it didn't work out for 2008 because we wanted to be there to cheer for UB when he finished (...maybe 2010).
UB finished the race, looking great, even despite the nasty rain that accompanied him for most of the marathon. The next day we had a celebration, the whole family, as well as UB's sisters, Buff and Joan, who we had SO much fun cheering with on race day. UB signed up for IMC 2009 as he originally planned to do an Ironman when he turned 60 (he just happened to do so well in the training that he did one a year earlier than planned).

2009
I guess this year is still history in the making... We all had planned to be in Penticton to cheer for UB, so I guess an unwelcomed twist in our plans took me off the cheering squad and put me in the spandex unitard... But after accepting the circumstances, I think the last two months have been the most memorable Ironman months I've had in the entire 4 year journey. I'm so excited for this race! I'm excited to race for a greater reason, I'm excited to drink gatorade till I want to puke, I'm excited for scorching heat and Richter's Pass, I'm excited to FINALLY have accommodations in Penticton, I'm excited to add to my Ironman-brand wardrobe, I'm excited for another fun family vacation, I'm excited to eat whatever the h*ll I want for an entire week after, I'm excited that I feel GREAT. But most of all, I think I'm the most excited about adding to my memory bank, because I know that I was always look back on my Ironman journey, and these 4 years will always carry such a significance to me.
And of course, in all honesty, I'm extremely excited, because this year, I am BRINGING IT to Penticton, and I'm going to race a Personal Best after only training for 3 and a half months (positive thinking!). I'm going to break 14 hours this year!

So here are some pictures from Ironman and some of the best parts of Penticton and Ironman week:

Here we are admiring the bikes at The Bike Barn (however, my bike is still the nicest):
In Ironman Village at the Cervelo Tent:

Up very early on race day (2007), Aria has her Iron-Baby hat on (which Poet will get to wear this year!). Alison is wearing her Iron-Sister shirt which turned into Iron- ister by the end of the day.

Getting my Body Marking. I was #2042, I couldn't get it scrubbed off for 3 days after!!! (is that normal???)

Row after row after row of Port-a-Potties... My parents (so classy):