Packing and Getting Ready...

Yesterday, Jake and I went down to have dinner with Matt & Beth - all you can eat sushi & hibachi. Was really good! Got my carbs in! Yum! Then we went and met the newest edition to their household - Josie (pitbull). She is a handful! All day long I was thinking to myself thoughts like: one week from now, you should be on your bike...one week from now, you should be on the run....one week from now, you will be DONE! Can't believe it is almost here...Augh! This morning Jake and I went to the gym. He lifted and I went and ran outside for about 5 miles. Leg/foot/back felt good after the warm-up. Is still a bit "ghost-like" and tingly when I start running. But I'm guessing next week I'll have lots of fun feelings when I actually start to run off the bike. Forecast still looks like we're gonna get wet. Now all the days surrounding race day are peppered with rain, so I'm guessing we won't catch a break. We'll see. So this afternoon, I went and picked up my "special needs" and "transition" bag snacks and treats. Between events and then half-way through the bike & the run - you will have bags that you can put stuff in - if you need them (extra clothes, food, drink, etc). Because I don't know what I'll be feeling like having at these times, I picked up a wide variety of things to consume, including:

• Nutter Butters (required, as these were my staple for century rides this summer)
• Pringles & Cheeze-Its (something salty - am told that all the sweet stuff you inhale gets pretty bad during the day)
• Jolly Ranchers & Gummy Bears - some sweet/sour things to suck on.
• Small Gatorades (blue kind, my favorite) - as I'm sure I'll be about ready to hurl with all the other flavors of Gatorade they will have on the course.
• Small Cokes - Note: Cokes on race day are permissable - and they are not "diet" coke, so I'm not breaking my anti-diet Coke rule (I've been clean since December!!!)

Now, I'll probably only grab one thing and stick with it...but better to have options, than none at all. Right? I also started going through my packing check-list and putting things together. I cannot believe all the crap you need to haul over there..."just in case"! You'd think I was racing for a week, not less than 17 hours! Tonight, Jake and I plan to put together our 'bike rack' for the back of his truck and get that all situated and set up. Hopefully that will work out good. We shall see!