Tomorrow is the big day!

Lots on the agenda today...I picked Troy up at 7:30 and we headed to the lake. Steve was waiting for us and we all put on our wetsuits and checked our bags at the Gatorade bag check. I must mention that Steve was a crack up with his wetsuit - something from the 80's - purple panels down the legs, and some lime green accents up near the neck. His wetsuit was also sleeveless and he was swearing that it shrunk!
More to come on the wetsuit note.
There were several folks handing out PowerBar gels on the beach. I turned down a couple of the offers because I didn't like the flavors. Steve was all about taking the free stuff, and got gels from just about every one of these folks...including one as we were entering the lake. He stuck the gel in his wetsuit.
Into the lake we all went. I must say that it didn't feel quite as painful today, but Troy and I agreed that it must have been psychological and we just had a better idea what to expect. We swam out a little further than yesterday, cutting back across the lake and heading back in toward shore. I also tried out the neoprene hood today. I was worried it would bother my neck or make me feel like I was choking, but I didn't have any trouble at all - in fact, when we got back to shore, I didn't even feel dizzy like I did yesterday, so that's awesome! Steve gave us some pointers on sighting and such, and we called it done. As we're peeling off our wetsuits, steve asks Troy and I if we want a gel and proceeds to dig for it in his wetsuit. I'm pretty sure even if we wanted a gel, we'd pass on that one. Thanks though!
We changed into cycling gear and headed over to the house where the other Colorado folks are staying. Steve had our bikes all ready to go, so we loaded up and headed out for a ride on the race course. It was a beautiful day and I can't say it enough - this area is so, so pretty! We rode the first 14 or so miles of the course, which happen to run up along the lake. The run course will also go along part of this stretch. There was a hill about 5 miles in that Steve wanted to be sure we rode. It's a little funny, 'cause you can't really see the top of it until you round the bend...riding it wasn't a big deal at all - but good to ride it the day before so you know what to expect when you hit it. It was great to be on the bike, spinning out the legs!
After our ride, we grabbed a quick bite at Subway, hopped in the car and drove the remainder of the bike course. Troy and I were pretty relieved to see the "hills" we've heard so much about. Obviously terrain looks different from a car, but we think the course isn't too far off from what we ride regularly. Good deal!
We went back to the house and made final adjustments to the bikes, re-arranged/checked our gear bags and headed back to the race site to drop off our bikes and bags. You have to check your bike and rack it overnight. Then you have to check in your gear bags that you'll use in T1/T2. There's a bag for Swim-to-Bike and another for Bike-to-Run transitions. It's a little nerve-wracking getting all this checked in. You worry that you're forgetting something. We also noticed that lots of folks had their bikes covered in case of rain. Fortunately, we ran into the gals from Denver and they gave us some extra bags. So, we went back to our bikes and covered seats/bars, etc.
As we're standing by the gear check, trying to figure out how the transitions work, this fella comes up and says - do you guys know the lay of the land here? We tell him we're just trying to figure that out and about that time, he spots my Kansas City marathon shirt and yells, "Kansas City!?!" It's Ben Schloegel, professional triathlete (and firefighter) from Kansas City! I knew of Ben, but had not actually met him, so it was great meeting another person from the homeland. :-)

And, with that, we were done with the pre-race hooplah. I think it was around 2pm when we headed back to the houses. When I got home, I set out all my race stuff and started working on my fuel for tomorrow. It's a lot of work before you even start the race! I was calculating calories I needed and splitting them out between bike and run - scooping out perpetuum, trying to make a bottle of Coke go flat so I could freeze it for the bike - lots of preparation. I was relieved to get that all sorted out and I was pretty well ready to hop in bed after dinner.

Troy and his whole crew came over to eat with our crew tonight. We had a big pasta dinner with salad, fruit, bread, etc. It was delicious!!! and, it was really nice for both of our families to meet - we've only been talking about them for a year now.

It was also sprinkling and looked like more rain would follow. Uh oh, we don't want rain for the already cold swim! Troy's clan left around 8, and I basically got ready for bed, double checked my race gear and called Steve for one final chat.
I was in bed at 8:45 and between 8:45 and 9pm, I got up to use the bathroom 3 times. Even funnier than that? I was sleeping within minutes of that 3rd visit. That's good - falling asleep quickly the night before a HUGE race?!?

Tomorrow is the big day. I'm ready. I've trained for this and prepared for nearly a year, I'll be fine!