Three more sleeps

Another awesome day closer to race day. This morning a bunch of us met for an early(ish) swim and unlike the few days before, the water was packed with athletes. The conversion of Penticton from small mountain town into Ironman City has begun - in a BIG way.

After our swim it was over to the Expo to register, get our athlete wrist bands and race kits with all the race day necessities like race numbers and timing chips. To add to the 'funnness' of that, the real excitement began - the merch tent opened!!! All the Ironman merchandise you can imagine. The tent opened officially at 9am and at 11am when we were there (and I'm sure much earlier than that), the line up was wrapped in and around the tent. Coffee mugs, visors, jackets, hoodies, t-shirts, race gear, bathing suits, gear bags, stickers, jerseys, shorts, powerbars... you name it.. it was there..with a giant Mdot (Ironman logo) front and centre. We also went to the local coffee/bistro triathlete hang out and signed the annual poster which has been done for every year since, well.. for a long time. It's official! I'm a part of history :)

Back at the merch tent, I forced myself to hold back for the moment, reminding myself that everything I wanted would be available Monday morning after the race except it would have "FINISHER" included on the logo. Tres-cool. Very much worth the wait, although I will be stopping by tomorrow morning to buy some stuff that I don't necessarily need as "finishers" gear. I'm just a sucker for race expo's.

My sister arrives tomorrow! I'm pretty stoked on that. Unfortunately though, due to a broken ankle and the untimely required surgery to fix it, my Dad is not able to travel and will not be making the trip out. BUT - I'm not letting that get me down. I know he would do anything to be out here and really, health first, and that's all there is to it. He'll take care of himself and be back on his feet (literally) in no time.

Just three more sleeps....