The Night Before the 70.3

The night before any race is always filled with nerves, but this race had us all extremely nervous. There was a lot more riding on this than any previous race. With the winning of the lottery slot to Kona, there came a clause...to hold the slot, James had to complete a whole or half Ironman this summer. We knew he could do it...James had completed a 1/2 Ironman before, in Galveston, last year. But, this kind of pressure makes the race a lot less fun!

So, the night before the race, we headed out for an early dinner at the Olive Garden. Although we got there before 5:30, a lot of other racers had the same idea and we had to wait for a while. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, where James proceeded to check his tri bag several times to make sure he had everything he needed for the race!

James was in bed by 8:30 and I was in bed by 9:00. He seemed to sleep, but I just lay there on the bed praying. I prayed that everyone would race safe, that James would finish the race in time and I prayed for Sister Madonna Buder, the "Iron Nun", because she had asked me to! (A post on my meeting her will come later!) Then, I prayed it all again, and again, and again!

I don't know how long I prayed, but I eventually fell into a restless sleep. Finally, about 3:30 am, I just gave up and got up. James was awake by then and we started to get ready to go. It had been a long night!