Ironman Eve

Tomorrow is the big day! I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with emotions, definately nervous, but also a lot of good emotions. At this point, there is nothing more that I can do... so I'm trying my very hardest to just enjoy every moment and take it all in. It's not just every day that I get to compete in something like this, or have my very own entourage of special people making me feel even more special.
There's not too much more for me to say other than my bags are packed, my bike is checked-in and my body is fully saturated with an enormous amount of water! The weather is supposed to be 32 degrees and sunny, could be better (as in cooler), could be worse (rain, snow or hotter), but regardless, I can't change it.

We've had such a fun week! My mom, Alison and the girls drove up with me on Wednesday, we picked up AR in Kelowna. Following Ironman tradition, we stopped at Mission Hill Winery to roll down the hill and lay in the grass. We thought this picture was neat because it shows 3 generations of sisters in our family:

My mom and AR drove the bike course with me on Thursday. I wanted to do this because we didn't have a chance to come and do our training weekend that was planned in July (nasty forest fires). I'm not sure if this was a good or bad thing (driving the course)... was great to refamilarize myself with it (I biked it twice before), granted, now that I think about it, knowing how big those hills are isn't necessarily better. I do however believe that I'll get through the bike on race well with the memory of the best ever fresh fruit milkshake that my mom and I got at The Bear Fruitstand just before the Yellow Lake climb (around 150 km into the route). I might even be tempted to stop on race day (someone remind me to throw $5 into my special needs bag!): Fresh fruit milkshakes were not originally apart of my pre-race diet plan, but it was worth every calorie!


I got in two really nice swims. It reminded me how much I like swimming in open water, but also reminded me how enourmously big the Okanogan is! I suppose it won't feel quite so big when I'm fighting through 2600 other competitors tomorrow morning (stress!). Putting on the wetsuit is actually more work than the entire Ironman. If you can squeeze your arse into one of those things and not die in the process... then you can complete an Ironman!

My biking friends, Sara and Keith. Sara and I have been through a lot this summer. A. LOT. I'm so happy we hooked up through our coach, and even though I'll be out on the course, I'll be cheering for her all day while she completes her first ever Ironman. Chances are... we probably won't see each other till next spring because we've both mutually decided that our bikes are retiring Monday morning for a good LONG break!

Alison, Aria and I went tubing down the canal, which was SUCH a highlight! This is how summer should be spent! We are so "water" deprived in Calgary, so it was so great to not only have water to go to, but options of which lake or river wanted!

On Friday morning it was the ever famous Ironman Canada Underwear Run. I've never participated before, but this year, not only did I participate... I had company!!! Aria and I ran the entire 1 km together... in nothing but panty's, well... Aria got to wear a tshirt cause it was first thing in the morning and a wee bit chilly, I was not granted the Tshift luxury. Because she was definately the youngest competitor, we were right near the back of the pack, even though we weren't far behind! Unfortunately, I think this made us a good "photo target" and I think my nearly naked body and panty's are going home with a lot of visitors to Penticton via their digital camera's. Lucky them (or not).

Pre-Panty-Race Pose:

A real up-and-coming-future-Ironman (who also happens to be nearly naked):

Wish me luck for tomorrow... the next time I write... I'll be and IRONMAN (#2)!