The Three Coconuts

Finally race week was upon us and we were both glad to see it come. It was the usual taper week of boredom, feeling bloated, tired, eating every 5 minutes because of boredom, and trying to visualize your race till you're blue in the face. Besides all of that we did seem to do a very good job of resting and staying off our feet. We left headed to Augusta on Thursday afternoon. We stayed at Candlewood Suites which had all the comforts of home except for a posessed air conditioner that was either too cold or hot and would adjust itself depending on whether it thought you were in the room or not. Really it seemed like a great idea this A/C unit could determine when there was no motion in the room and thereby turn itself off... Great plan for conserving energy... Major flaw is "What happens when you go to sleep?!?!?!" There is no motion, therefore no more A/C and the Diesel does NOT like to get hot while sleeping... (and may I just mention that the Genius was stuck sleeping on the couch... where the air was blowing directly her?!?! The Genius, needless to say, was extremely happy when the AC unit decided that there was no more motion in the room :) But this only lasted till somebody got up to pee.... and we were being good triathletes and hydrating thoroughly.

We slept in Friday morning then headed into downtown Augusta for the 1st of the mandatory pre-race meetings and packet pickup. Note to Ironman management: pre-race meeting gave absolutely no useful information that was not provided in our packets. We got our stuff, did a little shopping at the expo and were out of there. We decided that instead of testing out the Savannah River, we would go to the Augusta Aquatic Center for a prerace swim. Very nice facility with lots of lanes and the personnel were so excited that we were doing the IM race that they didn't even make us pay to play. Really everyone in Augusta seemed excited to have the event and the competitors. But back to the pool... the water was cold. Flipper of course jumped right in, I (non swimmy Diesel) whined and moaned while taking 10 minutes to painfully ease into the water and start to float about like a glacier, meanwhile the always compliant and agreeable Genius respectfully declined (by bluntly stating "there ain't NO way I'M swimmin' in THAT!"). There she was all suited, swim capped and goggled with her feet planted and shaking her head like a donkey. Then she starts negotiating with the life guard and finds out that there is a 90 degree water aerobics and diving pool at the other end of the complex. The guard agrees to let us take out the rope seperating the ends of the pool and we have our own 25 yard bathtub to swim in ^_^. The Genius is now happy and The Diesel is easily corrupted. Flipper proceeded to freeze his dorsal fin off while we sweated and swam!!

That night, we visited with an old Vet School friend and had a nice supper before returning to the A/C saga. Saturday morning Alan was coming over early from Columbia to do the pre race warm up run, ride and breakfast. The Genius slept in while, in the misting rain, the three of us went to the race site. We had a great jog on the levee beside the river where we would be swimming. In Augusta it was called an esplanade.... but it looked like a levee, only fancied up. Lots of athletes were out playing and it was hard not to get overly excited. The Diesel was seen skipping along the banks croaking out "singing in the rain", of course jogging with (best brother in law) Alan and Flipper she didn't have enough air to sing for very long. Then it was a short bike ride where after the turn around we earnestly chased down an unsuspecting biker. Had a little problem reining Alan in on his pull... next ride he'll have a mike in his ear for when he goes too fast or else I'll put a shock collar on him. After waking and retrieving the Genius we had a long brunch at IHOP then checked in the bikes.

Transition area was HUGE... and we were in the back, close to the swim entry area but a long way from the bike in and out areas and over some pretty angry rocks. But everybody had the same challenges, including a long run from the swim exit up a ramp and around the transition area. Yes, I did include all of the extra distance when tallying up my run mileage for the day. We had an early dinner at Carrabbas then to the room to get our bags together and unwind before and early bedtime. The Genius attempted to take her Anatomy and Physiology quiz from the hotel business center and its computer promptly ate her test... obviously it is controlled by the same demon as the A/C.

This is going epic... so we will cover the race day seperately to give you a break.... so here it is... intermission. Not to scare you, but this is what I looked like race morning.

Aloha,

3 coconuts