Nations Triathlon Weekend: Day 2 (The Day Before The Race)

Okay bloggies, get ready for some PicturePalooza, as The Running Dork puts it. The day before the race was filled with all kinds of activities, from bike assembly, test rides, bike racking, and swim practice, to the race expo and our Inspiration Dinner. My mom and I had the breakfast buffet at our hotel and then met up with the team to get shuttled over to the race/transition area. Below is one of the ONLY team photos I have where ALL team members are present:

Back Row: Jon & Jeff, Middle Row: Amy, Coach Jen, & J.Ro, Front Row: Ann, Jodi, Me (yes, everyone on the team's name began with J or A...and then it seemed like all our guests/family/staff began with S: Stacy, Steve, Steve (there were 2), Sheila, Shelley....)

Here's a pic of Ann & Me in our bike area, as our team mates put air in their tires in the background:

And here I am with my bike:

After we got our pedals securely in place and air in our tires, Ann and I took our bikes out for a test spin. Here are a couple of pics of us during and after the test ride:

After our test ride, we went to rack our bikes in the transition area...and stopped to get body marked on the way over. This next pic is for TeacherWoman at Dare To Tri cuz I thought of her when I was getting body marked and requested a smilie face on my right calf. ;)

(Notice the Washington Monument in the background)

Ann liked my smilie face, so she got one too:


We then headed to our respective rows and racked our bikes. I was in row 29, right by the Run In/Out side of transition. The sucky part was that I was about as far away from the Bike In/Out side of transition, so I had pretty much the longest distance to run with my bike of any person in the race. :/

Once our bikes were racked, we headed over to swim practice in the chilly Potomac River. (Side note, we found out that night at our Inspiration Dinner that THIS RACE is the only time anyone can LEGALLY swim in the Potomac. Interesting...)

The water temp that day was 74 degrees. I did not take my wetsuit with me...and probably should have. The cold totally took my breath away and I had a HORRIBLE swim. Just couldn't find my groove and I think the cold water freaked me out. Funny, the water was even colder on race day and I ended up rocking my swim...but more on that later.

Here's a picture of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which we swam under during our race.

And here's a pic of the water cops. ;)


Here's a pic of us girls posing like the sillies we are before our swim:

Keepin in real like thugs on the swim dock: ;)

This is probably one of my favorite pics from the whole weekend right here - my mom took a pic of us jumping in the river and caught us mid-air!!

Here I am during my horrible swim - yuck.

Here's J.Ro, Me, and Jodi, sporting our "fishie faces" after our swim:

Here's a pic of Jodi, Me, and Ann before we headed over to the expo for a little shopping:

After we got all cleaned up after practice, we headed over to our Inspirational Dinner. To say that the dinner was amazing is pretty much an understatement. The meal, the company, the guest speakers - all phenominal!!! The top 3 fundraisers for the event were awarded with brand new bikes!!! One of the guest speakers was none other than the LEGENDARY Dave Scott, 6 time Ironman World Champion and first person to ever be inducted in the Ironman Hall of Fame!! We also got to hear from an AMAZING young man, just 16-years-old, that is a cancer survivor. He gave the most amazing speech ever - I bet he grows up to be an inspirational speaker of some sorts - absolutely phenominal! His speech made me laugh hystericaly, cry uncontrollably, and truly reminded me why I was there. It was so touching...no words can even describe. And THEN, bless his heart, he went around to all the TNT members in the hotel and signed a sign on our hotel doors wishing us good luck - what a great kid!!

Here's a pic of Ann & Me at dinner:

Here's a pic of the team (minus Jeff) after dinner:

And a pic of Me & Ann:

Well, this is it for Day 2. Next up - RACE DAY!!!! :) Stay tuned!