June 23, 2012

Kicking it in Cd'A

Hello there! I thought I'd check in and give a little update on Ironman weekend activities thus far. We flew into Spokane Thursday with a layover in super green Portland, then rented a car and drove into Coeur d'Alene. It was an absolutely beautiful day, warm with clear blue skies. A few friends and I rented a house for the week, so we all met up there. My friend Cris made the drive up with her family and was nice enough to transport my bike. It was nice to see it after a few days apart! After unloading all of our stuff we decided to walk down to the race area to check things out. It ended up only being about a quarter mile, so the location is awesome!
 PDX
up in the air, on the way to Spokane
our cute little rental
best part - the porch!
 
We got down to the lake and race village and since check-in was already closed for the day, we hit up the merch tent instead. I managed to restrain myself (gotta save some money for finisher gear!), but did pick up plenty of awesome gear : ) We hung out for a while longer while Cris's kids did the kids fun run, and while waiting I ran into Nicole, also doing her first Ironman on Sunday. It always amazes me how despite the huge number of people at these events, I always manage to run into people I know! When the kids finished we all headed to grab dinner at a local hotspot, Capone's. The place was packed and we ended up having a long wait, but the food and vast selection of beers on tap made it worthwhile.
 the fancy resort
beautiful day at the lake!
race village
 Anandi & I
Capone's
 
The next morning we slept in a bit and had breakfast on our cute little wrap-around porch. Our plans for the day included checking in, doing a short swim in the lake to get a feel for the water, and riding the run course loop. It was a little chilly and overcast when we headed out, but it quickly warmed up, and ended up reaching 86 degrees later that afternoon. I kept joking that we left Sacramento just as it was cooling down to the 70s, only to come up here, expecting cool temps, and getting even hotter weather! Check-in was smooth and organized, but the best part was getting our AWESOME swag bags! I'd heard of them before, and had spotted them Thursday, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one.
 no. 144!
!!!

After hitting up the merch tent again (this time I restrained myself), we headed down to the lake for a practice swim. There were tons of athletes swimming and lots of locals hanging out, and it was absolutely gorgeous out. Since the water has been hovering in the high 50s (website says 55) I decided to bring my fullsleeve, and I'm glad I did! We swam about 500 yards, and while the water was chilly initially, after a couple minutes I was pretty comfortable. The water was also fairly clear and shallower than I expected, but there was a little chop and current. I felt good in my wetsuit and goggles, but I'm glad I tested them out before race day. I'm feeling fairly good about the swim, if only I could skip the mass swim start!
 the soon-to-be swim start
contemplating : )

After swimming we heading down the main street of town looking for some lunch. We grabbed sandwiches and then a few of us decided to explore a little more. My friend Anandi and I both work at Fleet Feet in Sacramento, so we hit up the local FF to see what it's like. It was super tiny! By this point we'd been on our feet quite a bit and were ready to head back to the house. After relaxing for a bit we got our bikes ready to go and headed out on the run course. It's a two loop course, so we decided to ride to the turnaround and back. I had my bike tuned up right before I left so it was nice and smooth just out of town we found ourselves on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive on an awesome little bike trail right along the lake. There was one big climb up to the turnaround, but other than that it's mostly flat with a couple false flats. Not too worried about the hill as I will definitely be walking up!
 checking out the local FF!
 the gals riding the run course

By the time we were on our way back the clouds had moved in and the sky had got pretty dark. Back at the house we got to making dinner, and then we rushed back down to the lake for the pre-race athlete meeting. Right as we got to the tent, the sky opened up and started dumping. Not long after we heard our first thunder. The tent was packed, making it hard to hear or see anything, and the rain added even more noise. It didn't last long; just as we were deciding to leave early they released everyone. Fortunately it was only sprinkling for the walk back to the house. Late that night, however, we experienced an intense storm with pouring rain, wind, and big bolts of thunder and lightning. We all crowded on the deck to watch the show, simultaneously entranced and worried that this could be an ominous sign for race day.
pre-race meeting
and then it was pouring

The forecast has thus been a constant source of conversation the last couple days. As of right now, we are looking at possible rain in the morning and potentially more rain and some thunder storms later in the afternoon. Of course, anything could happen! So far, the weather has been following a similar patter that I'm hoping continues on race day. It's overcast and cool in the morning, but by the afternoon it's cleared and warmed up significantly. Then in the late afternoon it starts to get cloudy again. Storms seem to be more of an evening occurrence here, so I hope it stays that way!

This morning was spent sleeping in and leisurely hanging out before tackling our gear bags. Ironman races give you 5 different colored bags: morning gear, bike gear, run gear, bike special needs, and run special needs. Since we had to drop off our bike & run bags with our bikes today, we had to lay everything out and make sure our gear was sorted into the right bags. It's definitely a little anxiety-inducing since you can't really do anything if you forget something!
ready to go!

We just got back from checking in our bikes and gear bags. The buoys are set up in the water and the finish chute is being assembled. At this point there's nothing left to do but countdown. Be back tonight with my race goals!
 that's a lot of $$$
 see you in the morning!
 run gear bags
bike gear bags

3 comments:

  1. SWEETEST SWAG! Awesome, makes it all worth it...lol. Praying for great weather and an awesome race for you! Can't wait to hear...GO ROCK IT! You trained so well for this!

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  2. Can't wait to see you in the morning. I know you will have a great race :-)

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