We weren't lucky enough to stay at the official "host" hotel so we had to travel a couple of miles to the other Marriott to get our race stuff. I have to admit that I was slightly nervous to ride my bike through the streets of Washington DC but I got over that quickly, especially after we rode in the wrong direction for a mile or so. I'm still nervous about riding near cars, especially in a big city, but I handled it a lot better than I imagined I would.
The expo was slightly overwhelming, which it shouldn't have been since I've gone through this process before. Kudos to the Nation's Triathlon staff and volunteers for making the process pretty seamless. While picking up our numbers and packets, Mom and I learned that we would not be able to race together tomorrow morning. We knew that the race would start in waves based on age and thought we would be able to make it work with the swim. Unfortunately, it was going to be a lot harder with the bike being our first event and the race organizers told us that we shouldn't be switching groups on race morning to start together. Definitely disappointing. We debated for a while whether or not we could make it work but ultimately decided that we would not be able to do this race together. I didn't want Mom to have to wait close to an hour in the transition area for me to finish my ride - I was afraid her muscles would get cold and cramp up and I wanted her to push herself as much as she could. We had been planning on race together from the beginning of our training but unfortunately, it just wasn't going to work out for us this year. On a positive note, we still got our official swim caps so I'm looking forward to replacing my old one!
My emotions were definitely high again today while at the expo. Mom and I fell in love with a beautiful pair of earrings at one of the vendor booths - there was a triathlon charm below an angel made out of purple crystals. They were so perfect since Mom and I are both doing this race in honor of our angel, Aunt Goofy, who passed away from lymphoma. When I saw them, I immediately teared up and thought that she found a way to put these in my eye sight so that we thought of her! It was slightly ridiculous that I cried in the middle of a busy expo but they were just too perfect! I'm so happy that mom bought them for herself - she deserves them!
On a side note, we were lucky enough to get the tee shirt that we both wanted from the official apparel vendor and picked up plenty of small goodies and giveaways. Mom and I both took advantage of getting stretched out and adjusted by one of the massage therapists there, although I definitely had a better experience than she did. While we were walking around, everything continued to sink in and I definitely became a bit reserved and quiet, so much so that mom noticed. I called it my "game face" but I was definitely getting nervous.
After wrapping up at the expo, we had to ride our bikes down to the transition area downtown and get our area set-up. There was a great trail along the river from the hotel to downtown that we took advantage of. Not only was it a beautiful ride through some parks and along the Potomac, it helped us avoid crazy amounts of traffic. Despite getting a little turned around near the Lincoln Memorial, we found our way to the transition area and proceeded to get set up.
We found the rows for our bikes and equipment - on complete opposite sides of the area - and learned quickly to mirror what other people had done in their areas so that we were doing things correctly. We weren't required to leave anything in the transition areas, besides our bikes, so we didn't have too much to set up. Almost every bike in the transition area was covered with a plastic bag, which makes total sense - the bag over the seat helps keep the dew off during the night so you're not riding 40 kilometers on a wet seat. Thankfully the tee shirts we had just picked up from the expo were in plastic bags that fit perfectly over our seats! It was also so muddy in the transition area - there were puddles of water and mud everywhere! That's definitely going to make things interesting for tomorrow morning.
The next time we see our bikes will be tomorrow morning before the race .. eek!
We took the shuttle back up to our hotel and met the family and Lindsay/Mike for dinner at a sports bar. I was really looking forward to relaxing a bit while watching the Air Force - TCU football game going on in Colorado Springs and thanks to a very useless bar owner, getting the game on TV made my blood boil! I would have preferred to eat something a little better for dinner to make sure my body was fueled for the morning but beggars can't be choosers. We took the time to plot out some viewing spots for our wonderful cheerleaders - I am looking forward to seeing them at various points around the course in the morning. I found myself crashing pretty quickly so Mom and I wrapped our night a bit early and went back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow morning.
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