The Setup..

I made it to Madison. Ready for Ironman Wisconsin. All the work is done. What a great venue. Friday and Saturday were filled with a surprising number of signs that Ironman was looming. On my way to the hotel Friday night, I knew it was about 2.4 miles (swim distance) to the hotel from where I was.. I looked down at the "last gas fill up" odometer in the car to gauge when I should look for Rimrock road. The odometer read 140.6 when I looked down. Wooooooo. (cue eerie music).

Also on Friday, I ran into this...


My limited bug experience says it's a praying mantis. Seemed appropriate.

The bike was still at the hotel.. But the racks were up and waiting.


Enough looking around. I checked in and got all my loot. Only to have to go back to the hotel and figure out where stickers go.. Don't put them in the wrong spot, or you might not get your Hammer Gel on race day.



OK, here are the secrets of a first time Ironman athlete.. I tried to keep it simple. What is the minimum I need. No kitchen sinks. Suit, shoes, helmet, shoes, race #'s, and socks. No, I'm not hardcore enough to try Ironman without socks.



I'm not an M-dot tattoo kinda guy. But, I did put this temporary one on so my peeps could find me. Alas, I think it worked once before race day, but no one on race day said anything.



All branded up, and pumped to go. My family showed up. We hit dinner. Then it was back for an early 9:30pm bedtime. I set every alarm I had for 3:30 AM. Unexpectedly I went to sleep quickly. I woke up once at 1:30 AM for breakfast (1 bottle of Ensure). Creamy chocolate is NOT the same as chocolate. In truth, neither are wildly delicious.

Give me time, I'll come up with some description of race day. Safe to say, I was feeling good. I was excited. And I was doing a pretty decent job of staying calm at that point.