IMAZ 4

then my dad was off to the airport to pick up my mom...they came back and hung out for a while before they went up to their house in scottsdale...i had thought that i would be just fine at this point...but i was kind of emotional...not nervous i don't think...but just had a lot of tears for no good reason...i think it was just rather overwhelming...too much thinking about what would happen the next day and not enough doing...i was ready to get started...the waiting was killing me...

so j and i decided that it would be best to just stay in the room...get room service (including a large glass of red wine...on advice from coach amy... :)...) yeah for plain pasta with a grilled chicken breast...but what was really amazing was that harry potter and the order of the phoenix was on TV..and had just started...man...that was awesome...a. i love harry potter b. it was so engrossing that i wasn't thinking about the next day c. i was able to sit down and stop pacing which was making j anxious...he fell asleep after dinner...i finished harry potter then watched the end of twister...not a very good movie...but i got to see the part where the cow flew in the air...i had never seen it before...it was also a good distraction...then i went to bed...

i actually slept pretty well...maybe that was just because the alarm was set for 3.10am...ugh...and it was time to get up before i knew it...i made some coffee and started eating...my coaches wanted me to eat ~1000 calories for breakfast...so i started with an odwalla bar...then a bagel with sunflower butter and jelly...then another odwalla bar...i got through one bar about 3/4 of the bagel and couldn't do any more...stuck the second bar in my pocket to try and eat from then until the start...also stuffed a gel in my pocket for before the swim....gathered my nutrition, my pump, wetsuit, goggles and swim cap, and a gallon of water and we were off...

parked easily and walked down to transition...i remember talking but have no idea about what...i was feeling pretty calm (i was surprised by this) and collected...i knew what needed to be done and was happy to be doing instead of thinking...checked my tires and breaks, pumped them up, put my nutrition on the bike, put on the aero bottle and filled it from my gallon, put my wetsuit, goggles and cap on the bike, gave j the pump and headed to the potty and body marking...saw carrie and catherine near the morning clothes bags and chatted with them for a while...yeah!!!...then went to get body marked by the T3 crew of girls over there...yeah!!!...then to drop off my special needs bags...saw little amy on the way over there...then saw erin!!!! (she surprised us all by coming) and richard...then saw j on the way back...all the while i had been trying to eat this bar...then i gave up...i had gotten about half done....but the thought of it was not making me happy...my mouth was dry...etc...so i pitched it and moved on...gave j a smooch and went to get my wetsuit on...

as i checked out my bike for the last time...i looked over at the fence and there were my parents...yeah!...then behind them chris, kevin and ben from T3...got suited up...shoved my clothes in my bag and was off to drop them off on the way to the swim start...gel in had i lined up with all of these other wet suited people...heard the cannon for the pros go off...and started to eat my gel...(eek! ten minutes to go!) i looked down at the gel to squeeze some to the top and noticed my hand was shaking...ok...yikes...here we go...got the gel down...saw erin...i have no idea how she got into that corral with all the athletes...looked up on the bridge and saw my parents...waved good bye and got in the water...

i screamed (like a good excited woo!)...and swam left towards my spot to start...i couldn't really comprehend what was happening...but i could feel that i had a huge smile on my face...looked behind me to see if the huge mass of people was following me...and realized i was all alone over here...ok maybe there were like three or four other swimmers...i got right up to the start line right next to the huge black ford blow-up thing...hung on to a kayak and listened to the crowd of swimmers scream as the voice of ironman told us that this was going to be a day we would remember for the rest of our lives..."do you want to be an ironman today?" then they all roared YEAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! man that was cool...then boom! i hit start on my watch and we were off baby!

on the advice of many who had done this before me i just put my head down and swam...still there was no one around me...i had open water...it was awesome...i just sighted and swam buoy to buoy...not thinking about how far i had to go or what was going on around me...just swimming...doing what i had done in barton springs...count up to 10 strokes sight...then i started making it longer before i would sight...and that seemed to be fine so i kept it about 15...as i was turning my head to breathe i saw that huge hill with ASU on the side of it and i thought wow...i'm swimming by that...and the stadium...cool...sighted and saw a bridge...ok cool going to be swimming into a shadow....then going to come out of it and see where i am...did that...and then there were all these people around...but i just kept swimming...then there were more people...then i sighted again and saw a different colored buoy....i thought no way! i'm at the first turn! sweet...got jammed up in a mass of people...popped my head up and heard "hi jess" seriously...there was charles...hi...how ya doing...weird! out of all those people there he was...paddled around the buoy...looked at my watch...(i couldn't help it...it said 33minutes)...put my head down and swam...the next buoy was not far...i tried to get out past it to turn and was able to swim that turn no problem...then i was on the way back in!

i had to keep reminding myself to focus here...to remember where i was...and to keep my pace going...i could feel my self getting tired...and i know when this happens my stroke starts to fall apart...so i kept trying to concentrate on different things that my coaches had pointed out about my swim...reach deep...watch the hand waver...don't cross the center line of the body...etc...just working on that...sighting and swimming...then my mind would wander...i gave myself a few get your head in the game talks out there...but we got it together and focused...then i could see the third turn buoy...it was still out a way but i could see it...i got excited...and picked it up...made it to the turn...and swam it...there were not that many people at this turn as the first one...then i could see the steps....oh yeah...picked it up...and drove it home...swam to the middle where there was no one...and i nice burly guy to yank me out of the water...i wobbled a bit on the first steps...got to the top saw the clock said 1.14...looked up again...saw a stripper make eye contact...point at me....point at the ground in front of him...i went for it...he pulled my suit off in like a split second pulled me off the ground handed me my suit and said good luck...then i heard my name...saw kevin, chris, ben, j, mom, dad...yikes...that was way cool...then i headed to get my bag....i was done with the swim!!!