Friday Diet
3 large multi grain PB pancakes
6 egg whites
small bunch grapes
banana (J only)
white bagel w/ 2 t PB & jelly
salt bagel w/ turkey
bagel chips
banana (J only)
MetRx protein bar (J only)
Salad with grilled chicken

Friday 6.21.02 - 2 days before the race. We left Portland around 6am and headed towards Port Angeles for the ferry ride over to Victoria under absolutely clear skies and cool air…..aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh. Not much to add about the drive. That freakin' salt bagel sandwich puffed me up like freakin' Rosie O'Donnell!!! That is the more salt than have had total in ten years. Nothing but traveling today. LOTS of studying

Saturday 6.22.02 - Day before. Got up before dawn….again. Totally clear skies and cool. Nice morning to read outside. Hit the lake around 7 and ran into some locals, who were really nice and pretty funny. One of the guys had an Ultraman Hawaii shirt on. He said he plans on doing it before he truns 45…couldn't tell how much time he has. They have a friend who has done it. Trust me, I got NO stupid ideas. The two girls came out of the water from their swim and said, "It's a little weedy but not as bad as we heard, and the water isn't too chewy at all!" THAT cracked me up. Nice swim for about half hour.

Time to do a ride/run warmup, eat lunch and check the bikes.

The workout for checking the gear felt unbelievably great. I commented to G yesterday and today confirmed this: I cannot believe how run into the ground my legs have been ALL SPRING. I rode for about 30 minutes today and freaking felt like I was floating. I drilled a few short climbs and hammered one flat…the ONLY flat stretch on the bike….in the beginning of the 3 mile home stretch. I did an abbreviated version of my usual 4mile TT warmup. It felt really good.

Folks were really starting to roll in for bike check/packet pickup around 1:15. We drove the course (again) and saw lots of folks wwwaaaayyyyy away from home, even around 1:00. What were they thinking. Those folks must be MUCH stronger than I am. No race t-shirt this time….thank heavens. How many more of those things can I use? They included a SLAMMIN' fleece hooded sweatshirt with the logos and stuff on it - really really cool. We are headed back early for the Athlete's meeting. We are takin' reading/studying stuff and gonna crash under a shade tree somewhere.

I gotta add a little here cuz I'm getting stressed out and REALLY wound up, and I think I'm losing perspective a little. I guess at this point, regardless of what happens tomorrow, I can take a tremendous amount of satisfaction in getting through (for the first time and for my first stab at this distance) a large volume of training without injury and getting to the race feeling good with no nagging pains. I might blow up tomorrow but I still am very satisfied with hanging in there through a LOT of long, tough sessions. Regardless, in the immortal words of Prof Johansen on the first day of law school orientation…."Folks, THIS is GONNA…BE….FFUUUUNNNN!!!!!!"

Diet Breakdown:
Breakfast: nanner, white bagel w/ jelly, dozen egg whites
Post-swim: apple, MetRx bar (these things SUCK when you are in the middle of a 6hr bike workout)
Post-ride/run warmup lunch: white bagel w/ smoked chicken, nanner
Dinner (early): 2 Wendy's grilled chicken sandwiches (note the white bun w/ honey mustard sauce) and the top bun of Gina's sandwich (that's LOTS of high GI white bread for the day)
Before bed: 1 bottle Gatorade

Sunday 6.23.02 - OH MY LORD!!!! We just had the best day and I have two big freaking blood blisters to show for it 8-D….Here is the short story: Jeff in at 4:53, a NEW 1/2 mary PR (even against my stand-alones), and I missed an IMC 2002 slot by 2 places - I came in 17/84 in 30-34AG and the last roll down slot was 15^th; Gina rolled in at 6:01, she had a smokin' bike split and run a REALLY strong 1/2 mary with no pain. We are going to gorge ourselves. More later. I was pretty disappointed at first but then I came to my senses…Dude, it's your first crack at the distance and your 4^th triathlon, but only your SECOND on a real bike. Ok, I'm better now…..Later.

Wow, it is a different world at a "national/international" race. There were athletes from as far away as Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona and Quebec. The really cool part was that the announcer was the guy by the last name of Smith that announces the Ironman races for Ironmanlive.com. The guy with the Aussie accent. I NEVER thought I would hear that guy announce me as I started the run as "Jeff Patterson starting the run. Looks like he's starting strong and should have a quick half-marathon." That dang near brings tears to my eyes. SO FREAKING COOL.

We didn't see Peter Reid or Lori Bowden. At the awards ceremony, however, there was the chick sitting in front of us with an age group award for 30-34. I kept looking at her and thinking, "man, that is one fit chick. She must be smokin' fast." They announced her name a few minutes later as the overall winner of the women's race - it was Gillian Baker!!! What a day. A few clouds and warm weather. Actually, if it hadn't been for the trees shading the entire run, it could have been a mess…a real death march for those of us that have had NO warm training weather.