Race Week - Holy Crap

Oh. My. God. I'm doing an Ironman in three days.

I finally had some freak-out time yesterday. I was writing my packing list and poking around online. This woman had the craziest packing list I have ever seen. And it sent me for a loop. I was a mess. On top of it I had a headache all day and my shins are still a mess.

But I'm doing an IRONMAN in three days. This is insane.

This weekend was pretty much the best thing that has happened in terms of training. E and I were hanging with his family at Raccoon Lake. They rent a condo every year right on the water. It was awesome. I got up each morning and headed straight for the lake. Perfect.

E would come and drink his coffee on the dock and watch me so I didn't get his by a boat. The water was fantastic. Clean and warm. It was ideal. We did a short ride one day and got chased by some dogs, but other than that we just hung out, eat, and slept a lot. One of the most relaxing weekends I've had in a long time.

So we get back from the weekend away, where no one talked about the race. E's family was interested, but not impressed by the Ironman, so we didn't talk about it - a blessed relief for me. The minute I get back it's 4 days to the race. Wow. It feels like yesterday it was 25, 26, or 6 weeks away. Always a distant something that would take a lot of work to get there, but would never actually arrive.

And now it's here.

The bike's tuned up, I have my food and gear packing list ready to go for tonight. Getting a pre-race massage from Michael and then it's off to the race. M.F. and I leave tomorrow about noon.

Then I'm in Madison and it's go time. No more screwing around. No more "what-if's" or "can I really do this?" I'm going to be DOING it.

I still remember years ago at the ADPi house... Angie and Sam would come back from runs and I would be sitting on the steps of the house smoking a cigarette after lunch.
Me "What are you doing?"
Angie/Sam or some other fit sister "Running."
Me "That's so crazy. Why would you WANT to run?"
Fit girl "Because it makes me feel good to run."
Me "I don't get it."

Or when I got my first job out of school and the girl I was working with, Suzie something, was doing the Chicago Triathlon. She wasn't sure if she was going to do the race..."I might do it this weekend, we'll see." To me it was an absolute. Something you did or didn't do. Who would want to do that anyway?

And now I'm less than a week away from crossing the finish line at Ironman Wisconsin. I think I'm going to cry. I'm sure I'm going to cry when I cross the finish line. I'm sure.

It's been quite a journey.