The night before...

Here we are just hours away from the start of Ironman Canada! We'll give it one word from what we've seen: brutal. Tomorrow is going to be a really difficult day - not only because it's a tough course but also because it's going to be 91+ degrees and sunny. Who would have thunk that in Canada, eh?

We flew into Seattle on late Wednesday, well, more like early Thursday since we didn't land until about 12:30am. We were at our hotel and in bed by 2am only to wake up nice and early the next day since we were still stuck on Eastern time. We spent the day having fun playing tourist around Seattle. We love that city!

Friday morning we hoped in the car and drove 6 hours over the border and into Penticton. We went straight to race registration, ate lunch and headed to the condo we rented to relax for a bit and then back into town for the pasta dinner. It was ok. Lake Placid was way better and much more motivational. We called it an early night and fell asleep almost immediately once getting back to the condo. I was ticked off immediately at Ironman at registration as I was going through the stops in the tent and arrived at the chip activation stand and the woman says to me "and do you have your chip strap?" (to hold the chip on your ankle). My reply was "No, I didn't know I was suppose to bring my own" and she says "oh, well, that's ok, you can purchase one here for $5 - this is something new that we will be doing at our races" OH MY GOD IRONMAN - SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?!?!? I said no thanks, I'll get one somewhere else. I would rather give my money to a local bike shop than give it to Ironman. I just don't understand how it's ok for them to charge you for a chip strap when we are required to wear a chip. Thanks for the forewarning on that one!

Today we spent the day prepping for checking in. I had a mishap while on my bike ride... my seat bolt broke. Eek!!! We brought that guy straight into the bike shop (Bike Barn, who also received my money for a chip strap) and the crew there was AWESOME! It was fixed AND tuned up in no time. Luckily, I only had to pay $50 for the bolt piece and not $300 for the entire stem, phew! Justin's bike got a nice surprise tune up as well and both bikes were looking good for racing! We dropped the bikes, bike bag and run bag off, drove the run route home and are now sitting on the couch about to eat dinner and go to sleep nice and early. I had a nice volunteer give my VIP treatment at check in who gave me step by step instructions on where and how everything is going to go down tomorrow. Ha, loved it - he was awesome!

Well, this is it! My number is 2367 and Justin's is 331. You can track us on Ironman (http://live.ironmanlive.com/Event/Subaru_Ironman_Canada).

WISH US LUCK!!!! Oh and Joey, screw you for not being here!!!!! hahahahhaha.....