Ironman Florida- Pre-Game

Its Tuesday November 3rd and I am wide away. I turn over and my digital clock, which could be large enough to land a plane, is telling me its almost midnight. I close my eyes and instead of sheep jumping over a fence, I see fellow athletes swimming over me. I see myself tearing off my wetsuit only to have forgotten my racing uniform and thus scarring many innocent bystanders. I see myself running to my bike and the tires are slashed from another competitor who was jealous of my flaming green bike. I see myself stumbling out onto the marathon, passing out, only to wake up with Jesus giving me a high-five in Heaven. With the race in 4 days from this moment, I would have taken any pill, said any prayer, licked an amazon frog, to find some relief from the insanity that was my mind!

After what was a very interesting night's sleep, complete with vivid nightmares, my uber alarm clock tells me its time to get ready to go. Erin, a beach virgin, is on her way to my house to pick me up. When she heard about Ironman and I heard she had never saw the ocean, it was no brainer that she was coming to Florida. Erin could take care of this major blemish in her resume called Life, and I could have someone to wipe the drool from my mouth after the race! Score. So after what seemed like a 12 round fight with the bike rack I borrowed from a friend, it was finally time to get on the road. On my Facebook I write: "Dear Ironman Florida, I'm going to destroy you! Wait...I didn't mean that, can I take it back? Please be nice to me!"

After a night's stay at my swim buddies Fletch's house (thanks!), we stayed at a really cool place about 1/2 mile from the race site! It had an 80's tropical theme that was both scary and calming. The ocean was flat as a pancake and the weather amazing. Soon friends from both work and church came down and over the next 48 hrs I would occasionally forgot why I was there...until I walked into Walmart. How about every other person looking ripped, walking around in some cheesy triathlon related shirt, shaved legs, and carrying various forms of gold...I mean pasta. Or the sports drink aisle looking like the milk fridge at a Nashville Kroger's when 1 inch of snow is forcasted! And lastly the beer lane, ravished, for what many may use to enjoy the pure bliss of such an accomplishment or bury the un-holy pain that accompanies 140+ miles.

On Thursday Will and I went over to the site to pick up our race packets. Crazy! We played "guess the European" way too many times. Some french dude strutting a "grape smuggler" and a t-shirt about ran his little crepe into me while I was buying some gels, almost vomited. After waiting in the long registration line, Will and I somehow get chauffeured into the main tent, because this lil old lady, who thought Will was my dad (he's 30), was on crack. We took advantage and zipped to the front of the line and made it official. Awkward moment inside the tent- we had to weigh in. So I gladly stepped on the scale, did my De La Hoya flex for the crowd, and shamefully told the lady I weighed 145 lbs! Seriously...apparently the Kentucky Derby will be next on my list!

Friday Morning I met Will for a little jaunt in the gulf. The water felt great and I began to realize how much I love swimming open water. There is something about having the waves lift you up, the slight right to left current, salt-water buoyancy, unlimited depth of sight, and jelly fish! Actually the last thing kind of wigged me out as I pictured my months of training going to waste because of some boneless fish I can't eat! However, my intuitive open water skillz came into play, and I moved right on Will's toes. The man had a wetsuit on, I was pretty much naked! We met up again to "check-in" our bikes and transition bags. Wow. Have you ever second guessed yourself? What is it called when you do this say 87 times? My bike and run transition bags had everything in them. From endless amounts of yummy (sarcasm) foods to my shoes, socks, and hat. You can only imagine how jacked we became questioning our preparation. Will, I, and Holly (Will's Girlfriend) headed out the door to the race site. I cannot describe in all my rambling words the pit that was in my stomach. If I ever get married, walking down that aisle will be no problema! I looked over at Will to which he states "I think I want to vomit." We check in the bikes, bags, and my soul. Will goes to get taped and I make the lonely walk back to my place. Time to anticipate, time to reflect, time to prepare, but more importantly time to pray. Through this adventure God and I have had some pretty amazing times together and this moment was no exception. You know when Rocky yells outside of the Father Carmine's window, asking for a blessing, before he fights Apollo in Rocky II...it was kind of like that minus the whole Catholicism thing. As I talked to Him, I received a calming peace that was pretty amazing! God is good and even in the face of the blatant conflict/ idol that is triathlon training, He was with me and was excited for me. Than I stepped on one of those prickly seeds on the beach, lost that feeling, and now had a few things/ words to seek forgiveness for! T-Minus one rough nights sleep! More to come!