Do As I Say....

-Drove up to Clearwater yesterday just in time to hop in the water for the Gatorade morning swim. This means that all the athletes line up, drink as much Gatorade as possible, then jump into the ocean and swim the course following their energy drink chug-fest. The athlete who doesn't pass out, throw up, or die is the winner. No, actually, it means that the kind folks from Gatorade, bless their hearts, watch our backpacks while we swim. Am I doing Gatorade penance from a previous post? Perhaps...

-The swim was way choppy. And cold. Very tough water - worse than Ironman Coeur D' Alene. And I'm out there in my Blue Seventy Point Zero 3 Skinsuit, looking at all the other athletes wearing wetsuits. I'm the only guy not in a wetsuit, as a matter of fact. Could this race be wetsuit legal? Could it be that I should not have left my wetsuit hanging in my closet at home? Oh, crap.

-"Hi Jessa, this is Ben. Would you mind doing your husband a huge favor? QUICK GO HOME AND GET MY WETSUIT AND FED EX IT OVERNIGHT AND THROW MY ELECTROLYTE PILLS IN THERE AND ANYTHING ELSE I FORGOT I LOVE YOU BYE!"

-So rather than driving back up to Clearwater this morning to take part in pre-race meetings and to check out the water again, I'm hanging out at my cousin's place until the wetsuit package arrives at 3pm. To all the athletes out there that I coach, let me say one thing...Do As I Say and Not As I Do.

;)

Pre-race dinner and celebration was fantastic, with the flags of 50 countries parading through dinner, tasty lasagna and Greek salad, a smooth reggae band, and great on stage entertainment. Everyone was decked out in winter coats, hoodies, and long pants because there is an atypical cold front moving through Florida rightnow. I'm looking forward to making some snow angels before the race, or maybe having a cup of hot chocolate and making a snowman.

Body still hurts today, back, ankle, same old story. I've been resting it hard. So if anyone out there would like to join me for Celebrex Cocktails on Saturday morning, meet me on the beach.

Tomorrow is the big day. Track it on ironmanlive.com and look for an update on my blog on Saturday night or Sunday morning..

Ciao,
Ben