Ironman Race Week - Friday

My husband arrived this evening!!!! HOORAY! My parents and several close friends arrived which was awesome to get some time with them.

Great meeting with Multiports Camper including a visit from the Future Men's IM CDA Winner Michael Lovato :)

After the Multisports meeting I went to swim. My plan was to swim 1 complete loop but unfortunately I didn't realize they actually closed the course at 10am which sucked cause I was only to like the 5th buoy before they made us all go back. :( So since I was the last swimmer there was this boat following me and I'm like HELLO, BOAT FUEL, bleck!!!!!

Ate a bad breakfast, got some GI issues and ended up just laying down. Finally made it to my massage and still felt pretty unsettled. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

I did what I know works which is GU20 and some bland stuff like crackers but I had a fabulous massage with Joanne and then went to our friend Larry and Cathy's in Spokane to do some laundry and mix all my bottles and make my frozen bags. It was very relaxing to spend a few hours there.

It was also very fortuitous. Anyone that's followed my training knows I eat all kinds of random things on the bike. One of my favorites is Taco Del Mar Tortilla Chips. Yummy!!!! Unfortunately I could not find any within an hour of Spokane or CDA so I was seriously bummed out cause I'd wanted to put some chips in my Special Needs bag. Well I'm driving to Larry and Cathy's and what do I see?????

WOOOOO HOOOOO - A brand new Taco Del Mar. Hallelejah!!!!

Headed back to town, visited with my friend Susan from the Weight Watchers group, picked up Siani and headed towards the Athlete Welcome dinner with my BT friends.

We had so much fun visiting with the Shannons (there are 3 in our group), Drew, Doug, Chad, Paul, Aki and Shannon's mom. You guys are all awesome!

Lots of speeches and then they bring the oldest and youngest competitors to the stage.

Next they're like now let's find out who our biggest loser is!

"If you've lost more than 10lbs stand up"

Of course I stand up and look around, there are maybe 30 people in a tent filled with at least 1500 athletes. What???????? Seriously. I'm a bit surprised honestly that there aren't more people.

"If you've lost more than 20lbs stay standing"

"30, 40, 50" with each # more people sit down and as I'm looking around I notice I'm the only woman standing so they are zooming in on me with the camera that's putting this on the Jumbotron and my table is going crazy :)

"60, 70, 80" at this point I'm laughing because I'm like man we are going to be here a LONG time if they are moving in 10lb increments but I'm smiling and waving because people are really cheering and clapping.

After 80lbs there are only 3 people left (me and 2 other guys) so Greg Welch calls us up to the stage and as I'm making my way toward the front people are like shaking my hand and saying way to go and congratulations and now people are giving us a standing ovation. OMG - this is very surreal.

Next thing I know I'm on the stage and Greg Welch is like "what's your name dear?" So he brings me to the podium and he's like "Bonnie, how much have you lost?" When I said "170lbs" there was like this collective gasp from the crowd and then it was just amazing. People were so genuinely supportive and clapping and cheering and I can't even describe it.

He asked me what motivated me to do the Ironman and I said something about growing up in Kona, starting to lose weight and doing the Danskin and then here I am at my 1st Ironman. Then he started laughing and was like "you spat me out". It took me a second to realize he meant that he weighed less than I lost. Too funny!

The next 2 guys had lost 100 and 130lbs so then Greg is like "Bonnie is our biggest loser
and we'd like to give her this basket filled with yummy Baker's Breakfast products" and then they give me the SWEET Ultra Deluxe Tanita scale that I was talking about yesterday. WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!

We all headed off the stage and an Ironman person asked me what my # was and then I got lots of hugs and handshakes as I went back to my seat. It was pretty cool.

After the Athlete meeting we headed to Spokane and celebrated my dad's birthday and visited with friends and my family but most importantly with my husband who I missed terribly.

Back at the hotel and got a great night sleep (7 whole hours with no tossing and turning) :)

At this time tomorrow I'll be doing the Ironman - AWESOME!!!!!!