Fired up, ready to go

With a glass of water by my side, I offer my last screed before Ironman No. 5. Unlike the broken promises of brief posts prior, this one will be brief. I'm sleepy, but I wanted to make sure I was packed before I head to work tomorrow. The bike is all broken down and packed in its plastic case, the suitcase is loaded with whatever provisions I'll need for the next four days (except for my toothbrush, which I will use in a moment), and the transition bag is packed with my bike helmet, sandals, magazines, cell phone charger... you get the picture.

I'm not taking my computer, first and foremost because the bag gets heavy after a while. In addition to the laptop, there's the power cord, iPod, cell phone charger, plus all the other crap I listed for the transition bag above. And I still have to find a place for my wetsuit. Other than the bike, I don't want to check anything. Odd that I would check the one thing I can ill-afford to not have in Madison, while bringing in the cabin with me things easily replaced.

By the way, Northwest will make an extra $175 off the shipping of my bike. Unless I try to lie about what's in the box, or I'm vague about it ("It's sports equipment"), or they just forget to charge me (stop laughing). I get sick of hearing about how people dodge the airline fees with boxes identical to mine, but I'm not willing to tempt karma. I'll ship it home via UPS for around $70, and next year I can ship my bike well in advance of the race because I'll have TWO bikes, a spare to ride when the nice one is getting shipped.

Finally, I'll tell you three what I've been telling anyone who asks. I'm in better shape for this one than I was for any of the other four. I don't know if I've been eating better but I've been getting better quality sleep, and I've trained much smarter for this one. My PR is 11:42:40 (Florida, 2003), and anything slower than that will disappoint me to the point of suicide, but I won't act on those impulses because there will be more opportunities for me to get better.

P.S.: There's coverage at the above link, or at UniversalSports.com. I'm No. 797, which likely will be a Boeing number in 10-15 years. Now I need Boeing or Airbus or someone else to get me to the damned race.