Irene brought us wind, rain, and taper

It's amazing to me that time has flown by the way that it has. A little over a year ago (August 26, 2010), and just a few days off the success of Timberman, I decided I wanted to do an Ironman distance race. Here we are now, a year and 2 days later, and we're just 2 weeks from Rev 3 Cedar Point. In fact, as I write this around 11 PM on Sunday night, I should be just crossing the finish line 2 weeks from right now. I can't believe how much time has gone by.

But here we are with only the taper between us and the race. Are we as prepared as we absolutely could be? Nope. I've cringed a couple times this week thinking back at some poor choices (food I had partaken of and exercise I should have but didn't) I've made along the way. But we're here now, and there's nothing to do but look forward to the race and the opportunity to have one full long day to complete this part of the journey.

And for each of those poor choices, there were days where I did everything right, where I left it all out on the bike, in the pool, or on the running trail. The long rides, the extra hills on the bike, all those miles in the water without the wetsuit, and the Wild Fish swim race. I haven't walked a hill on the bike in months, and my swim is stronger than ever. Yes, my run still sucks, but like the song says; two out of three ain't bad.

We had a final 100 mile ride planned for Saturday, and we did our damnedest to make it work, but the weather and the gym just wouldn't cooperate. After 30 miles outdoors, the weather turned bad in a hurry so went looking for indoor bikes, and sadly we simply couldnt find a place to finish the race. No place would take us on just a day pass. So, while we wound up with one less long ride than we hoped, Rach and I talked through and we've decided we're ready.

Or, at least I have. I can honestly tell you I'm confident I'll finish the race. Sure, I'll be slow, and yes, I'll be somewhere after 10 PM finishing. But I'll cross that line before midnight. Rachelle on the other hand, is feeling less than confident. It comes down to the bike for her. She's plenty fast to do the race under the cutoff, but she's nervous because we've never ridden 112 miles straight. I've explained we've done most of the distance all in a row, and we've done it with a harder ride than what we'll have at Cedar Point, but she's still feeling less than confident. If you follower her twitter or read her blog, she could use a little support.

These next two weeks while less busy with workouts will be plenty busy with moving, unpacking, and then heading up to Ohio for the race. We'll still get plenty of workouts with the moving and the taper training. It should be a great couple weeks leading up to a fantastic race. Plus, my last day with my current company is Friday. I've really enjoyed these last two years working there, but with the move it just isn't a good fit to stay there going forward.