The Day Before

Hello all - as you know, this is the big weekend, the goal of the last five months, the big trip of the spring, the peak of all the training and sweating....this is Ironman Western Australia weekend. We wrapped up work in a hurry on Thursday (including last minute packing of brand new running shoes), got on our flight and had smooth sailing into Perth where it was pleasant, sunny and a gentle breeze welcomed us to our 'vacation'. We spent the evening and Friday morning exploring downtown Perth, especially enjoying a walk through King's Park Botanical Gardens with an outdoor breakfast, before hitting the road for Busselton.

The first thing we noticed when we got into town and went to race registration, was how easy the swim was going to be - one lap around the Busselton Jetty. Sounds easy right? Yeah, this jetty is so long it has a turn, rest stops and I'm sure that I heard about a bus to take you from one end to the other. It is also one of the most photographed man-made structures (along with the longest wooden structure) in the Southern Hemisphere. The next thing we noticed was that there are definitely a LOT of very fit people here - many flashy bikes, tanned legs and shiny sunnies on display. Even at the carbo-dinner last night, when last years winner said 'its not too late to pull out!', nobody seemed to take it seriously. Now that we're this far (I've been weighed, tagged - #475, stickered and photographed) its time to get going and get the job done. Tomorrow is the day, I start at 6:15am and if all goes according to plan I'll be done before sunset. One lap of the jetty, three 60k loops of local biking scenery and three 14k loops of running along the beach (yes, in brand new shoes!) followed by the finishline. It almost doesn't sound that bad - perhaps I don't know enough to be scared just yet, ask me at 6:14am tomorrow and you'll probably get a different answer!