Day 2 for me is the final day before the Ironman race here in Panama City Beach. After a good night sleep I woke up to beautiful sunshine and the sight of lifeguards lowering the red flags and replace them with yellow ones. The ocean also looked quite a bit calmer too, and I am sure that my face had a big smile on it.
After a nice hearty breakfast which we had cooked in the condo here we finished getting our transition bags ready. Shortly before noon we headed down in our wetsuits to finally swim in the ocean. I was quite curious about the water and was hoping that the water would not be too warm for my 05 QR superfull. I also had brought an 05 Hydrojohn just in case, but as soon as I was in the water I knew that I'd be fine in the fullsuit. We only swam for about 15 minutes, and the water felt awesome. The water also feels less "salty" than the water in Hawaii, which is just fine by me. :-)
After the swim we went to the expo for awhile and I ran into Gatorade's Tom Ziebart several times. (But I can assure you this was the real Tom Ziebart, unlike the Francois Modave imposter I saw yesterday) Tom is a very nice guy and he has become an integral part of Ironman North America events. I also met up with a few of the Team Timex folks such as Dave Harju, Marie Danais, Alison Hayden, Andreij Yasterbov and Hillary Biscay. Hillary Biscay is actually going to do her first race as a pro here in Florida and it'll be interesting to see how her recovery from that horrible injury at IMNZ has progressed.
At about 2:45 I checked my bike and my transition bags in and left the transition area just in time to go to the age group athlete meeting. Just like last year they showed a funny video featuring Paul Huddle and Shelley Bremble, and they literally walk an athlete through the whole race with humor. (Paul basically always interjects with "stupid" questions, which really are not that stupid)
After the meeting I headed back to the condo where we had a huge pasta with sausage meal and know we are kicking back and in a little while it is bed time.
I'll try to post tomorrow night too, that should be a bit more interesting. :-)
Herbert
Litespeed / QR
After a nice hearty breakfast which we had cooked in the condo here we finished getting our transition bags ready. Shortly before noon we headed down in our wetsuits to finally swim in the ocean. I was quite curious about the water and was hoping that the water would not be too warm for my 05 QR superfull. I also had brought an 05 Hydrojohn just in case, but as soon as I was in the water I knew that I'd be fine in the fullsuit. We only swam for about 15 minutes, and the water felt awesome. The water also feels less "salty" than the water in Hawaii, which is just fine by me. :-)
After the swim we went to the expo for awhile and I ran into Gatorade's Tom Ziebart several times. (But I can assure you this was the real Tom Ziebart, unlike the Francois Modave imposter I saw yesterday) Tom is a very nice guy and he has become an integral part of Ironman North America events. I also met up with a few of the Team Timex folks such as Dave Harju, Marie Danais, Alison Hayden, Andreij Yasterbov and Hillary Biscay. Hillary Biscay is actually going to do her first race as a pro here in Florida and it'll be interesting to see how her recovery from that horrible injury at IMNZ has progressed.
At about 2:45 I checked my bike and my transition bags in and left the transition area just in time to go to the age group athlete meeting. Just like last year they showed a funny video featuring Paul Huddle and Shelley Bremble, and they literally walk an athlete through the whole race with humor. (Paul basically always interjects with "stupid" questions, which really are not that stupid)
After the meeting I headed back to the condo where we had a huge pasta with sausage meal and know we are kicking back and in a little while it is bed time.
I'll try to post tomorrow night too, that should be a bit more interesting. :-)
Herbert
Litespeed / QR