Well, we made it to Madison on Thursday...a long day of driving. It took us 12 & 1/2 hours stopping 5 times. Not bad actually. It rained a good part of the day so it completely trashed my bike which I spent a good amount of time cleaning the day before. Oh, well, so it goes.
The temperature has been excellent. High for the race Sunday is expected to be 75...nice...10% chance of rain. It sure beats the 95 degress of two years ago and the 56 and rain last year. I prayed that the Lord would bless us with a day like is expected....thank you Lord.
Above is a picture of Lake Minona...home of the 2.4 mile swim. We took to the water Friday morning for a short swim to get used to the water and our wetsuits. This water is nice and calm. Friday morning it was windy and the lake had white caps so it was a pretty tough swim....if it's like this Sunday it'll be great.
Friday night we went to the athlete's dinner and mandatory meeting. The food was pasta and more pasta, vegetables and baked potatos (the best part of the meal). They went over the rules and regulations and talked about all the athletes on hand. There are triathletes here who've done 50 Ironman races! There's an 18 year old here from Mexico and 78-year-old former Wisconsin Governor. Of the 2100+ triathletes registered for the race 1100+ are first time Ironman distance competitors....I'm one of them. Is that my stomach churning?
The goal for me leading up to the race is to try to relax as much as possible and stay off my feet. We swam Friday A.M., as I mentioned, and ran about 20 minutes Saturday morning. We also had to check in our bikes and take our transition bags to the transition areas. The transition areas are in the Minona Terrace and our bikes are on the 4th level of the parking garage in the Minona Terrace.
I hear this is one of the best Ironman races on the circuit because of the fan support. Much of the course is downtown and that's also where all the activity takes place. The Ironman Village is there, UW is right down the street, the state capitol is in the same area. There's people everywhere. It's exciting.
O.K. so after we checked in all our gear and had our fill of the Ironman Village on Saturday it was time to go back to the room and get down to business......watching my Sooners romp all over the Miami Hurricanes! 51 - 13. That made the afternoon very relaxing!
Will hung out with me, chillin' and watchin' the game. My buddy!
Tonight it's out to dinner about 6 - 6:30 and back to the room and pray for a good night's sleep. Sunday A.M.....the Ironman journey!
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