The big day is almost here. I can not really believe it. It is like the night before Christmas with more restrictions. I do not have much to do today -- just drop off the bike along with my bags of equipment for the bike and run. That way at 5 in the morning you just show up with your goggles and swimsuit and you are good. What sucks about today is that you have free time, but you can't use it! I am in a cool new city, but I do not want to eat new things or walk around too much. It is like my life is on pause until tomorrow morning -- no new experiences until then.
This morning, I finally rode my bike. It survived the trip and reassembly. Riding in Nice was interesting. Normally I would have embraced the challenge, but today I just wanted to test my bike and loosen my legs. I got up at 7 and just went for short ride down the run course with a guy I met at the hotel. This morning the streets where wet and mostly empty. The main street has trams running through the center of the road along with broad walking and parking areas. In Nice, the parking/driving/walking areas are not always clearly separated. As we rolled down Avenue Jean Medecin, the other guy found the seperation between the road and walkway as he crashed only about a minute into the ride! I just heard the clatter behind me -- that helps wake you up in the morning. The avenue was lined with a different rock that created a small lip (1"). He was just moving over and did not see the lip. Luckily, he and his bike were fine -- a small bit of road rash on his knee and hand. The rest of the ride went with out incident, but we were both glad to finish without getting taken out by a car or pedestrian. It was not that it was dangerous, but this close to the race you become paranoid about doing something stupid. A guy I ran with this winter, said this time before a race is when you need to wrap yourself in bubble wrap.
After the bike, I walked back to the sea with my goggles and wetsuit. One of the sponsors, had booth done by the water for people to test their wetsuits, so there was a bunch of races in a that spot swimming. I wrestled my wetsuit on an tenderly picked my way to the water. (The beach in Nice is made of rocks.) The water is clear and bright blue. The waves lap at the shore quietly but with strength. There are no big breakers, but the swells are there and you can hear the rocks getting sucked back out to sea with each wave. I am not complaining about the water temperature. It is a little cold on your face, but nothing compared to what my friends are going to face tomorrow. My swim felt good and strong. The salt water and wetsuit make you float on the surface for a fast swim. I do not think tomorrow will be quite as calm with 2499 others trying get to the same place as me!
Time to go relax before dropping of my bags and bike at 5 tonight. Then tomorrow it starts early. A 3:30 wakeup with breakfast at 4 am. Stroll over to the race site by 5. Drop off your food for the run and bike in the morning. At 6am, hop in the water for a brief warmup. Then at 6:30 it is showtime! You can follow along in the fun at Ironman Live. (Make sure you are looking at Ironman France -- there are two other races tomorrow!) Nice is 7 hours ahead of Austin, so I suspect I will be well on my way before most of you wake up.
My Body's Punch List
13 years ago
2 comments:
You won't see this before the race, but best of luck to you. It is amazing that you are doing this!
We thought about you all day! Marcus, Roy and I were attending a picnic for all volunteers for the Nov. 8th Walk in Ft. Worth. I told everybody what you were doing! Everyone thought it was so cool! The brain tumor survivors in our group said THANK YOU. Funding research will help THEM stay alive and they appreciate you as well!
Can't wait to see more pictures. When do you return?
Love,
Cindy
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