Less than 24 hours before the race and things started to come together. After having Friday off from any training, muscles were itching to do something. We headed down to the Club to have a light run-through session.
One of the adventures of travelling and couch hopping is transportation - or lack thereof. So, being at the mercy of other people's schedules, I got to the club a good couple of hours before i needed to be there. NOTE: The more idle time on your hands before a big event, the more time you have to think about it, the more likely you are to sit and watch your nerves run out of control - Not Recommended.
Nerves started to show, and I had to fight with all my might to keep from going outwardly crazy with a debilitating mix of nerve, excitement, fear, hope, and adrenaline.
Before our last session Phil [Clayton] had the five of us (Mike & Dan Janes, Mark from RSA, and myself) sit down around a table, upstairs at the club. He handed out a small packet of paper which outlined the race. We went over where our handlers should be, and - more importantly - what they should be giving us along the way. 1 Gel here, 2 there, only water here. A gameplan was absolutely essential to one's finishing the race successfully.
As we went down to the water's edge with our gear, Mark, the gentleman from South Africa, told Phil he was going to sit this one out; save it for the race. Reality was, he was knackered earlier in the week from 2 sessions, and did want to risk it before Sunday's race - Working on an oil rig doesn't allow for absolute training for an event like this.
We did a brief Ironman session and began preparing our gear for Sunday, applying decals and stickers to boards and ski's. Then he headed to the event briefing, to relearn everything we already knew about the race.
The Countdown begins.
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