All i have to do is sleep, wake up, travel 70.3 and the first phase is over...for now!

Well, day two. I didn’t do much today. I woke up, had a HUGE carbohydrate loaded breakfast then we went to the River Walk. We walked over to the Expo, again, because it is so much fun and the atmosphere is awesome and reassuring. I have to admit I violated a tradition. The whole not buying distance souvenirs until I have completed the distance. I think that is going to change. I claimed this distance as mine and bought two 70.3 water bottles, hehehe. Big spender I know! It was funny they were a buck cheaper than the water bottles I buy from home.


It is welcoming to be among fellow athletes that are experiencing the same feelings you are. I overheard these guys at the expo talking about this scale that gave body fat and hydration percentage, bone density, and a host of other not so important information. It was pretty high tech. I was dreading to hear my body fat percentage, but was amazed, I was smack dab in the middle of average! Woohooo party! A few blogs ago I wrote that I am training so hard just to be average so that was welcome information. It was a lot lower than my highest body fat percentage which was 22% at my top weight of 232 lbs. It’s funny, no matter how much weight I lose I still feel like I look 232lbs some days.

Moving right along, around 1pm we headed toward the bike check-in. We arrived and the first thing I did was go to the swim start because I wanted to see what the course looked like set up. I wanted to see what 1.2 miles of swimming looked like. When I saw it I wasn’t intimidated by the distance. I had to tell myself that I swam this distance in training. Afterwards, I got air in the tires and took my bike on a farewell ride before bike check-in. During the race brief they said the first three miles would be rough. On my test ride I was expecting rough, but wowzers! It felt like I was riding off road! A mountain bike would have been a better choice for the first few miles. I turned around on the bike and went back to the transition area, turned in my bike and waved goodbye. On the way out I met a gentleman who said he did this event last year. It took him 8.5 hours. He was nearly 70 years old. KP and I drove part of the bike route just to have an idea of what it looks like. Part of the route is on the actual interstate! Like the highway! Lol! It will be closed off but that should be a lot of fun to cycle on the actual Interstate. It’s not every day you get to cycle on the Interstate.

We went to a point on the race where I am expecting to see KP and my cousin Jason on the race. It wasn’t difficult to navigate to today, however, a half Ironman wasn’t going on either, so we picked out a plan b which is a viewing hotspot location.

At 4 pm I had a much needed massage and had them work on my calves since they have been kind of tight the last couple of days. Back at the hotel, KP and I went through the race checklist and prepared everything for the morning (4 o’clock in the morning!!! Poor KP). I have eaten what I needed to today, or at least all the clean carbohydrates that I could (and even then didn’t come close to the 700 + carbs that I heard a nutritionist recommend for race prep!). I have hydrated and prepared, and now it’s time to pray and get a good night’s sleep! Tomorrow morning….GAME ON!!!

One arm stroke, pedal revolution, and step to the Glory and to quiet...those...demons...