IMKY Pre-Race Days 1&2

The "" Ironman Weekend" actually started on Thursday morning.   Rick arrived at my place at 10am to start the road trip.   We ran into alot of traffic from accidents, construction, etc.  So what should have been a relatively easy 3.5 hour trip ended up taking closer to 5.5 hours.    We got to the hotel, checked in and quickly got over to the expo where we picked up our packets and did some clothes shopping in the Ironman Store.    Once we finished this, Kathy had arrived in town and we hit up a place called Mozz for a quick bite to eat.   After this we met up with friends, Jimmy and Natalie and the 5 of us headed over to Indiana for a beer tasting at Kegg Liquors.   An old friend of mine who used to live in Columbus, Todd Antz, took over the business from his parents.   Hadn't seen him in years so it was a great chance to meet up with him again and check out the store.   Hands down one of the best beer/wine/liquor stores I have ever seen, he had a huge selection and I was a happy girl because he also sells Fat Tire Beer, one of my favorites, which isn't sold in Ohio.  

After finishing up here we headed back to Louisville and met up with the rest of team FIT for some late nate pizza at Impellizzeris.   By that time,  Kristen, Ben, Jeremy, Laura, April, Megan, and Matt had arrived, so we had a much bigger group.   After all this, it was time for bed!

Friday morning a few of my friends went for an early ride.  I opted to sleep in instead.   Once they returned we all headed back over to the athlete check-in area so everyone else could get there packets.   I of course, took the opportunity to take some pictures! 

Kristen

Kathy

Rick, Kristen, Jeremy

Rare shot of Matt without his sunglasses, with girlfriend Megan.

Susan, Rocco, Dave

While others were shopping around, I took the opportunity to go chat with one of the Pro Women that was there.   Hillary Biscay was signing autographs and answering questions.   I found out she was to do Ironman Louisville and then will be traveling to Ohio to also do the Rev3 Full in a few weeks!    While I was chatting her up, Jeremy and Laura also wandered over and we got a picture with her!

Laua and I with Hillary

As we walked away, I commented to Jeremy that I was surprised he came over to chat with her.   I believe his response was "she is hot!" or something along those lines.

After leaving the expo, a group of us then headed out to lunch to a place called Proof on Main to meet up with another one of my friends, Brad Stevenson, who now lives in Louisville but also formly lived in Columbus.

Rocco, Kathy, Rick, Ben, Kristen, Me, Susan

Matt, Megan, April, Jeremy, Laura, Natalie, Jimmy

Great food and great company.   After the meal we all traveled to the bathroom.   The place is actually in the lobby of a hotel called 21c Hotel which has alot of cool artwork.   We had some fun with a few of the displays both inside and out!

After lunch, Kathy, Kristen, Rick, Ben, and I traveled down to a local bakery called Kizito Cookies to get some of their awesome cookies to bring back to some of Kristen's friends and our families.   Neat area of Louisville that I would love to explore more sometime if given the time.   It reminded me alot of the Short North Area of Columbus.

Once we returned to the hotel, we took some time to check into our separate rooms, take naps, and get ready for our families to arrive later that night.   

Dinner that night was spent with more of the IM athletes.   Most of our group headed over to the Convention Center where an Athlete Dinner and "mandatory" meeting were to be held.   We got there early thinking we could get good seats and found that we had to wait in line, as they hadn't even opened the banquet hall yet!

Tani, Susan, Rocco, Fede, Me, Kristen, Rick, Aaron, Andy, and Kathy.

Per Rocco, this felt like the longest wait ever.   We were all hungry and it was hot out in the hall with all the people.   But eventually we got in and got some seats and food.   We had enough people for three tables, it almost felt like wedding or prom or something...

Kathy, Susan (Julie's mother), Random Guy Mike, Julie, Rick, Kristen, Ben

Christy, Tommy, Robin, Thomas's Wife, Thomas, Tani, Aaron, Rocco, Susan

Andy, Angie, Dave, Sherry, Tony, Me

The Athlete Dinner was interesting to me.  I didn't attend this the first year I did IMAZ because friends of mine hosted dinner that night, so I blew off the IM Athlete Dinner and only attended the mandatory meeting.   During the dinner there was live entertainment.   Then they had a few different speakers, included Mike Riley "the voice of the Ironman" and talked to some of the pros.   It was interesting to me because they threw out stats, they also had different competitors up on stage including; the oldest athlete, the youngest athlete, the people that had lost the most weight training (one clocked in at losing 165 lbs!), etc.   It was also cool to see all those athletes in one place and to feel some of the pre-race energy.   However, the dinner was 2 hours long and then the mandatory meeting was an hour.   During this meeting they talked mostly about the race, each portion, things to expect, went over the rules, etc.   I will admit, after 3 hours of being in the same room, I was a bit antsy.   I think they could easily have condensed it into 2 hours.  

Once the stage was vacated, we took the opportunity to take some pictures!

Back Row: Rick, Me, Kathy, Fede, Susan, Tony, Christy

Front Row: Dave, Aimee, Julie, Kristen, Rocco, Aaron

Me and my biking buddies: Kathy, Fede, Kristen, Rick

Kathy, Kristen, and I

After this we went back to the hotels.   Alot of our family members had started to arrive, including my own.  Mom, Dad, and Aunt Debbie had made it to Louisville while I was at the dinner.   I showed up just in time for my mom to open a bottle of red.   I was a good girl though and only had water while Deb and my mom drank the wine.   After chatting for a bit we all headed to bed.   Still have one more day and then the IM!