Days leading to the Vineman Full Ironman Race

Mon (7/27)
Working hard at work. Lot of stuff to do! I then headed out to Team Send Off Dinner. I went to REI to get batteries for my headlamp and cadence but they sold out. Dinner was a blast. Mentor Linda did an awesome job with that Ironman Jeopardy Game. And yes, my Pikachu anime expo picture were there as one of the question... I think the question is something like... where was Louis. Answer: 'What is Anime Expo'. ding ding!

Tue (7/28)
Started packing for Vineman. I had Katsu Don for Dinner... my pre-race ritual!

Wed (7/29)
I woke up at 6am to finish my packing. I took off around 10:30 am. I bought sushi, tonkatsu, and spam musubi for lunch but I only ate a little bit. After a long long time, I got to Sonoma a little after 7 pm. My roommate Edmund arrived with his family and we went to dinner together. His kids stayed over for the lunch and I did my part by giving them endless Japanese snacks.

Thur (7/30)
I started off with a Buffet since Edmund got me a ton of free buffet tickets (yay for being a diamond Hilton member!) I was doing anything I can to take my mind off the race, so I got myself some egg, cream cheese, smoked salmon, a bagel, and make myself a Lox Bagel sandwish LOL.

bike check at 11 am. Next thing I know I headed out to the swim start to swim a bit. 20 minutes to be exact. We got back to the hotel and the team went out for dinner. Flavor... the same place where I had dinner the night before.

I went all out by eating a salad, this raw beef appetizer thing, and a seafood pasta. I think I paid like 50 bucks.

After I got back to the hotel I went to the supermarket to get some stuff. I then started preparing my bottles for Sat. I knew Friday will come and go so I wanted to make sure I get all my stuff ready!!!

See... I did 3 things today and it took the whole freaking day! Crazy!

Fri (07/31)
Today we have this Team In Training Branch at 11:30am. We ate, listened to last minute tips from our coaches and other coaches from different chapters. I think one of the woman said the Team In Training team will cover something like 7000 miles tomorrow... and I am one of the 140.6 mi... that's pretty cool.

Again, next thing I know we were at the expo getting our timing chip and package. We then setup the run transition and head back. I took the 10 minutes that I have and got myself 2 Vineman Cycling Jerseys and a visor hee hee.

We then went back to the hotel and check in our bike. After I checked my bike Coach Rad/Coach Paul waved me over and want to talk to me one on one about tomorrow. So we got into this empty conference room and I felt like I was walking into a confession box... ready to confess my sin. The three of us sit down and Coach Paul said... let's hear it. I was going to tell him I once forgot to pay my share at work happy hour but I soon realized he was talking about my plan... so I was like. Tomorrow I am going to swim, bike, and run. I am going to do what I have been doing all along and I am going to follow my nutrition plan. I told them I am not going to fuck around in Transition (people were concern about my transition time because I took super long in the half ironman). I told them I will overcome any issue tomorrow and I will finish.

I am actually very confidence but I feel like I need to tell them I am super confidence. I feel like I have to sell my confidence to them. I felt like I was pitching a solar power flashlight! They told me they are not worry about me as long as I don't fuck around. I felt a sense of relieve. Coach Paul also commented about it was fun having me in the team. Among many things, I think it has something to do with taking pictures for the team, being a nerd, do weird stuff, eat unhealthy stuff, have good endurance, being very supportive to my teammates, and of course... show up as Pikachu in a bar!

We had a pasta dinner party after bike check. We got together in a room one last time and listen to our coach and focus for tomorrow. Everyone was very serious! But Coach remind us to have fun tomorrow.

I continue to prepare for Sat. I talked to Edmund for a bit and we turned off the light at 10:30pm

F#@#!The last few days went by fast!!!

Sat (08/01)
I save the game day for another post