Pre Race Jitters

The bike gods are not smiling upon me... Or maybe they are.

Today my bike was flat so after "athlete briefing" and "packet pickup" I took it to the bike shop to get a new inner tube. I told them it absolutely had to be ready by 5:00 so I could take it to Lucky Peak before 7:00 to check it in for the race. It was ready by 3:30 so I picked it up and took it to Lucky Peak by 5:50. When I got it out of the car I realized that the tire was flat again. Then I was the girl in the cell phone commercials moving around holding my phone in different positions to try to get one bar. I got the bar and called Tom. Then I called the bike place. They told me to bring it in but they close at 6:30. I -- oh, and I had Morgan with me -- put the bike back in the car and hurried as fast as I could (while obeying traffic laws) to get to the bike shop before close. I made it by 6:20 and the guy fixed the flat tire. I also decided to have him put on liners to help prevent goat heads from ruining my race. So he had to take the front tire off and do that. When he was all done and I was getting ready to pay, the front tire exploded. I mean BANG!!! with three exclamation marks and slime went everywhere. I was so glad it didn't happen in my car. The guy (we're so tight now I'll just call him Bob), Bob took the bike to the back and put on a new inner tube. As of an hour ago the bike was in good condition with no flats. So there you have it. That was my pre-race day experience. Like I said, either the bike gods were not smiling on me by doing all this nasty stuff today or they were smiling because it happened today and not tomorrow.

My bib number is 62 (yes, I am in there with the pros) so if there is a way to check and see where I am online at ironman.com you can try to figure it out. I thought there was a way but I can't find it. If anyone wants to try it out (like you have nothing better to do) go ahead. The race starts at 2:00 mountain time. I think my heat starts at 2:45. I'm so so so nervous!