Some random observations from the road:
1. Having a GPS does NOT mean you will not get lost. I knew this, but hubby insisted on yelling at Monsieur Garm-een (again, pronounced in an obnoxious french accent because it cracks me up) which, as we know, only makes it mad and more likely to drive you to the middle of fucking nowhere.
2. Visiting your hyper-critical inlaws on the way to your first ironman is not advisable. Upside, my yearly duty is satisfied and I don't have to listen to the unspoken (thankfully. It is not always unspoken) undercurrent of how fat I am "despite all that running" until next summer. So long bitches, see you on the next trip around the sun!
3. A smart phone is only as smart as the person using it. Therefore, it can be used to look up TONS of totally useless information that, for some reason, my husband and I MUST KNOW RIGHT NOW.
Useless information highlights from this trip:
a. It is 72 miles from Weed, CA to Klamath Falls, OR, it is 25 miles from Puyallup, WA to Renton, WA, and so on and so on. For EVERY tiny ass city we came to there was some sort of distance that we had to know.
b. Jimi Hendrix is buried in Renton, WA (Yes, we went to see the grave. Pictures to follow)
c. There is a place by the California/Oregon border that calls itself the State of Jefferson, and purports to be the 51st state in the union. Get over it folks, you are NOT a state.
d. The Sundial bridge in Redding, CA was built in 2004 (yes, we went there too. It was a regular, white trash pilgrimage of the northwest. Pictures to follow)
e. A rousing game of "Dead or Alive" resulted in the following information: Ernest Borgnine, Betty Ford, and Lena Horne are all still alive and kicking. Sadly, Ricardo Montalban, Jim Henson, and Nell Carter are not.
I'll stop. We did this for over 17 hours.
4. Northern Washington is patently uninteresting. Unless you are into hay. Lots and lots of hay.
I have officially checked in, and am wearing an Ironman wristband. It is much colder than expected and is raining, Everyone is scrambling to get appropriate clothing. It is starting to feel real.
Christ, what have I done?
47 comments:
I always thought it would be great if instead of saying "recalculating" Garmin said, "You idiot."
GOOD LUCK!!!
WooHooo!! I'm so excited for you!! You can do it!!
I can't believe you drove there! Glad you're there!
Can't wait to follow you tomorrow.
WOOT!
alright. i would've had to pass on that drive personally.
so excited for you!! can't wait to hear all about it in typical RBR fashion :)
GOOD LUCK!!!!!
You are wearing the Wristband of Awesomeness!
I'll be thinking of you tomorrow.
Good luck!
Hi, I just found your blog. I think it's so cool that you're doing an Ironman, and even cooler than you're raising money for the humane society!
I've never raised money during my training because I hate asking people for money, but I recently realized how much having a blog will help with something like that. So I'm going to do it soon. Is your humane society thing done through the race, or can anyone do this for any race?
Have an awesome race. I can't wait to read about it. The pics already sound enticing!
How awesome!! It will be fun....and beautiful..After inlaw visit sounds like IMCDA will be a piece of cake!
Yay RBR!
Your blog is a hoot -- somebody pointed me to it after the GPC Century (I was pouring coffee as a volunteer and happily not riding the damn thing in the rain!)
You will do great tomorrow! I've done 5 IM's (CdA times 3) on WAY-less-hard training than you have done, and I am SLOW, and older than you.
I bet you are going to be surprised at how easy the course is next to Big Sur and the Strawberry Fields Century! Once you are through the swim, you have it in the bag! Just go slow and steady and stick to your plan to finish. It will all be worth it when you hear those words, "You are an Ironman!"
HAVE FUN OUT THERE!!!
Good luck!!
Ok I'm going to tell you what my coach tells me before every race.
Listen to your body, trust your training, drink, and have fun!
And just for you RBR!!!!!!
Good luck, race hard, race ugly and leave everything you got on the course!
Quick side note. While reading about your inlaws I yelled at my pc "Oh F you!" You can pass that on to them if you would like! Heheh!
You rock girl!! Chicagoland will be cheering for you all day on Sunday!
Some other time you will have to detour and come run in Bidwell Park and take a little peak at Chico. Made it through Redding, yes white trash central but Turtle Bay has a cool T-rex exhibit there now that is worth the $$.
Glad you made it to your destination. Can't wait for pix and updates. You'll do GREAT!
I am SOOO excited for you and dying to follow your race. Did you post your race #? Maybe you did. I need to read back. Have a fabulous race!! I'll try not to sign up on Monday ;)
I am so THRILLED for you to be there, making it happen. You go bitch!!! I will be following you and sending you all my energy, in little blasts throughout the day to help you over the hard spots :)
I am the road trip Queen, I would have driven there myself, no problem. Your car games sound great...
I am so excited for you and can't wait to read how it turns out! Go # 74!!!!!
The GeekGrl and I LOVE to drive and see weird shit along the way.
Ironman CdA...my best triathlon memory EVER! You are going to love it. Best of luck, I'll be sending you the good vibes.
Good luck girlfriend! For some reason I thought this was happening next weekend. I would have sent you an email. Anxious to hear all about it. ;)
I am sooooooo going to be stalking you online tomorrow (got the page bookmarked and everything!)
Good luck girl! You're going be awesome!
Go baby go!!!!!!!!! You can do it........
Ah yes, the raod trip a la Garmin. We use the the guy with the English accent, makes it feel so much more dignified, when we take a wrong turn (but that is usually more my husband thinking he knows better).
Good Luck, I can't wait to follow, you will rock it!!
Ok - the first split looked ok but they haven't posted your second swim split. My heart is with you and I'm sending "get on the bike already" vibes your way. :D Go RBR go!!
WoooHooo - you're out of the water. Go Stacey Go!
Oh Thank GOD - you're out of the water and on your way!! That was the only part I was worried about for you, chica. Go kick some CDAss. :D!!
Good luck!! I am sure you are in the middle of it right now. I can't wait to read your race report!
Came over from JoLynn's blog and have been following your training. Wishing you strong legs, heart and mind as you rock the course.
and if you can cross those bridges at Garin your ass is not big!
Off the swim! I know what a strong cyclist and runner you are. PEDAL BABY PEDAL!!
BIKE SPLIT 1: 34 mi, 2:28:10: 13.77 mph
KEEP GOING! I know those hills have been tough, but you can do it!
Keep on' keepin' on. You can do it!
How exciting!!!
Go RBR Go! I'm checking in too!
I hope you are okay. *hugs*
We love you Stacey!!
by now i'm too late to wish you luck, but can't wait to see the pics and hear about your IM! :)
chickie woman - I hope you are OK, and I hope you haven't fired anyone.
And if you have, I hope you will consider hiring them back.
Love you girl. can't wait to hear what happened.
I've been thinking about you girlfriend. HugHugHug!
Haha, I had to laugh at a few of your comments. I routinely get lost with Garmin. I'm from the NorCal area and now live in Oregon so I know the 5 well...State of Jefferson is amusing as is the "worlds largest flag" in Doris, CA. Not sure if you went there. The Australian Hats sign in Redding also makes me laugh!
Hope it went great, I can't wait to read the full report!
Huge Hugs.
Oh Stacey, I hope you're being kind to yourself. Here's another hug.
lots of hugs girl... hope everything is ok. we <3 you!
Hi Stacey, hope you're ok! HUGS!
I linked over here from Lindsay's Kenyan blog, so I just wanted to say CONGRATS! IM is one of my life goals.
just found you blog and am finding it hysterical. not laughing at you of course! Gar-meen can be a bastard.
Stacey-
I've been really enjoying your blog. I just wanted to say that I hope you're OK and to paraphrase John (The Penguin) Bingham, "the miracle is that you had the courage to start"
You know I'm thinking of you - so much in fact I might just fly to CA the wknd of your birthday to watch you finish the SF Marathon.
Hope all is well with YOU!
Thinking of you, girl...
cuz you are awesome, and don't forget it :)
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