Ironman Arizona - Part 2 - The Day Before

Saturday, November 19th
I woke up again on Saturday early and hungry (even though I ate a huge dinner the night before). Banana and Justin's Nut Butter were my morning snack to keep the growling stomach at bay. Then I took in a chocolate UCAN as I had my pre-race workout to do. They had Tempe Town Lake open with swim support (it is not usually a swimming lake, just boating) so we could check out the waters. I swam in my old long sleeved wetsuit since the temp was in the low 60s and I haven't worn this one in a few years. The water was cold when I got in and it did take my breath away slightly. My hands, feet, and face were cold at first, but after a few minutes it didn't feel so bad. It helped that the air temperature was warm. I was glad I got in the water so Sunday morning wouldn't be a complete shock to the system! I was also waffling between wetsuits. My long sleeved is old and takes on water, but it has long sleeves. My new XTERRA wetsuit is sleeveless but fits better. I was debating and talked to a few folks about it to get more input before making my final decision.

I met up with Kelly Ping again and we went on a short bike and run after the swim. And big thanks to her dad for keeping an eye on our stuff. Legs were feeling good! The line to drop off the bikes had diminished significantly so we checked in our bikes. Odd that they took a photo of the bike for "security reasons" but they do have a nice photo inventory of all the bikes!

Tachyon is racked.

Tandem bike for a blind athlete.

The transition area a little later...a sea of wheels.

Kelly, her dad and I had lunch at Ncounter and then I headed back to the hotel to shower up and then pack up my gear bags and get them back to the race site. I also started to get my food around for the special needs bags. Once my gear bags were packed up I went back to the race site.

Figuring out special needs

Gear bags are packed!

Gear bags for all the athletes!

I ran into a few folks I knew (Steve and Michelle Vaughan, and Warren and Pam Schuckies.) Race excitement was here. I always get more nervous the day before a race, and setting out those gear bags were a definite indication that I was going to do this thing! I then headed back to the hotel one more time to get off my feet and make sure I was there when Tim arrived. Time to go over my race plan one more time and make sure my lists were together. Tim showed up around 4:30 and we hung out until it was time to head to my pre-race dinner at P.F. Chang's. We met up with the rest of my family there. This was a popular place, because Shannon and her support crew were there, and Kelly was there with her dad.

my tried and true pre-race meal. salmon and brown rice. (lettuce wraps not shown)

This was in the mall so Tim took a photo of the Odell clan!

After dinner it was time for the final prep. Special needs bags and gear all set out so it was easy to access at 4 in the morning and so that I wouldn't forget anything. We turned on the Virginia-Florida State football game (what the heck, FSU?!?!) as I went through my lists and race plan one last time. I also had to pack up my things so Tim could change hotels. After the disappointing FSU loss, Tim headed down to the bar to use the free drink coupon we got and by 9:30 I was in bed...