Clearwater #2

This should technically be Clearwater #3 since this is day 3 in the Sunshine State. I figured that since I missed yesterday though I would stick with chronological order and call this "#2".

From my most basic observations Florida is not the "Sunshine State". The 3 days I've spent here it could be the "Cloudy State", or the "Windy State", or the "State where Angie is always cold" state... but definitely not anything with the word "sunshine" in it. Luckily today there is blue sky, however the wind is still howling and the I need a sweatshirt to stop shivering.

Yesterday was a very low key day. Ken, Jaimie and I went to the Clearwater Aquarium. It's really small and quaint... not at all fancy, but you get up close and personal to the few marine animals they have. It's a rescue facility committed to re-integrating sea critters to the ocean. I found it interesting however that every sea critter they talked about had a reason to not go back their natural habitat so were lifers in the aquarium. Still, it was a good outing.

Last night Ken helped me google every woman in my age group. (Pathetic... I know!) There are a few websites that make searching results really easy. One is www.triresults.com. The other is Bay Area something or other. What I learned was that there are a lot of really really smoking fast women registered in this race. Peggy Yetman was second in Kona in our AG this year. (I'm hoping she's tired!) Cassie McWilliams should be a pro, and there are a few others who are in a league of their own so to speak! There's a good group of women at similar speed to me from what I can tell, and I'm very much looking forward to a good race with these athletes. (Of course my biggest hope is that they all decide to ride clean and not cheat by drafting. From what I understand the chances of this happening are pretty slim!) I also read today that there wasn't any body marking in Kona, making me think there won't be any ages written on the calf of competitors to tell us how we're doing in our AG. So.. it could be a true time trial assuming a few riders stay out of the draft packs:)

The other big news for today is that the swim course has been moved from the ocean side of Clearwater to the Harbor. It will be a deep water mass start for pro men and women, and the age groupers will be a time trial start. I think this means we'll go at 3 second intervals on our own. It means you can't tell where you're at in your age group because everyone starts at different times. On the plus side maybe it will help a bit with drafting. I guess we'll see. This is the first time this has happened at the race so tomorrow could be a bit of an experiment. The website describing the changes is here: http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/worldchampionship70.3/clearwater2009/relocation-of-swim-for-foster-grant-ironman-world-championship-70.3

Finally I guess I should tell you I'm a bundle of nerves today. I don't remember the last time I felt like this pre-race, but I'm settling down finally at almost 2:00 in the afternoon. This morning I honestly was a nervous jittery puddle of goo! I know that when the gun goes though I'll get my brain in the game and do everything I can to race smart, to race hard, and to race clean. The results will take care of themselves when I get to the finish line!

As I finish writing this the wind is HOWLING outside our door, but at least the sun is shining. I'll take it as a positive sign.

Bye for now... Angie