One More Sleep...

Only one more sleep till race day - Ironman Canada 2009 - and I have never felt so calm and at peace in my life. Hmmm....


WHERE IS SUSI AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER??

The 'old' Susi used to have a lot of anxiety. My stomach would be in knots for days before. All the meditation, Buddhist teachings and lessons from my other 'teachers' is being put to very good use I must say. I am giving many thanks for that!

I have had a great time out here so far. First we get purple wristbands - how cool is that? Then yesterday I went out with the parental unit to do a little vineyard touring. Granted, I didn't drink any wine, want to keep this bod in fine form for Sunday, but I loved all the scenery. There are some gorgeous places out here.

After that I chillaxed a bit then a few of us met up for sushi. As Dad jinxed me with the sushi - he uttered the words 'You aren't going to eat sushi 2 days before the race are you? We aren't anywhere near the ocean here, I wouldn't trust it' - I couldn't eat the sushi because even though I'd been to this sushi restaurant several times before I knew that if I went against my fathers warning that I would get sick soooo I stuck with one avocado roll, miso soup and some edamame. For those who know my sushi habits I know you are going to fall off your chairs with that news. After dinner I headed off to the race meeting with Jen.

We met up with Chuck there, who was brave enough to eat their food. <>. The meeting was it's usual self...I missed a couple of things due to texting and when I went to ask Jen what they said she'd missed it because she was texting too. Ah yes, modern toys. Yikes!

We left there and headed for the street party. I had to find the parental unit somewhere in the chaos...okay, here's when mobile phones really do come in handy! On the way to finding them before they 'walked back to the hotel' I found a prayer bead braclet at a kiosk, just like the one I was trying to find. Another good omen!! I didn't stay to look at the wee Buddha statue but I know the smiling one was calling me! Too bad the fellow wouldn't be at the market this morning so I could get my Buddha.

After another good nights rest, I met up with my buddy and Iron-bro Chuck at the lake. We had a little swim/bike/run to do today. I was very grateful to have him to hang out with and do some training with. Even though this is his FIRST Ironman and even though he couldn't swim a stroke last year, he is SUPER calm. This is the type of person I need to hang with the day before the race!

I didn't feel great in the swim, or on the bike, and was breathing hard on the run. All good signs. A crap pre race workout means a good race the next day. Or at least that's what I'd like to believe! After that good stuff we walked to the transition area to drop our goodies off and to do a dry run of transition.

On the way we spotted what looked to be an old style skeleton key on the ground. Chuck picked it up and I was like 'How cool!' so he gave it to me. As I looked at it I saw it wasn't old, and had wee hearts on it. Then I turned it over and it had written on it 'Key to my heart'. Of course I had to bug Chuck about him giving me the key to his heart! I then said 'This is SO going in the blog' which we laughed about for quite a time.

We walked through transition, took some photos, saw gorgeous Julie there and the ever encouraging and wonderful Linda and Earl, which was great. One of the great things about this race is how many wonderful and encouraging people you see here. I love it! The photo below of Chuck and Julie is just brilliant! You guys rock!

Then I headed home to hibernate till the race. I've had a long nap now and am going to just chillax for the rest of the afternoon.

It's hot out here today, and race day is supposed to be hotter (32 C with sun), but I'm ok with that. Tomorrow is going to be what it is going to be. No sense fretting about it. I have bought some salt tabs so likely will break the cardinal rule and will test out something new on race day.

I don't have a time goal for tomorrow instead I have process goals. Some of my process goals are to stay strong in the swim, to keep sighting every 6 strokes, to stay present, to sit up on the bike till get halfway up main street, stay steady and strong on the bike, stay on top of my nutrition, stay present, lose richter, stay down in aeros even if the winds are hard towards Keremeos, savour Yellow Lake, run strong, stay on top of nutrition, stay cool as I can, be thankful, enjoy the moments, and smile.

Smile because I am here and have the health and ability to take on the event called Ironman. Smile because I'm blessed to have amazing friends and family. Smile because I love seeing all the athletes and how wonderful they are. And smile because Tigger smiled all the time in IMC 2007.

To all the athletes I wish you nothing but the best here in Penticton and down south in Louisville! Stay present out there and you will be just fine!

Peace out my glorious friends!