Holy Crap, I'm IN!!!!!

You can see I'm listed here.

Wow, wow, WOW! At about 5:45PM last night, I check my email, and I had a message from the RD:

Hi Sheila,

Thanks for your application, we will be pleased to issue you an invitation. Those will be issued later on but in the meantime you can start your planning for your trip to Penticton.

When planning your trip please take into consideration the Schedule of Events from the Registration to the Awards Banquet.

I look forward to seeing you here and wish you luck with the rest of your season and your training for 2010.

All the best

Steve

I was speechless when I read it. I got the shivers. I shed a few tears of joy. I grabbed a bottle of champagne out of the fridge to take with me to visit with some friends. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and couldn't believe it--is this MY life is this happening to ME??? But I guess it is. I was expecting to wait several weeks to hear back, but all it took was maybe 5 hours.

While I lay awake for maybe 1/2 hour last night, I was already visualizing myself crossing the finish line on Day 3. Man, I know how hard it is going to be to prepare for this--mentally, physically, logistically and spiritually. It's almost as if I feel selfish to be able to do this--that I will need to have a crew with me that will be making a huge sacrifice for me, to get me across that finish line.

And, of course, it gives new meaning and joy to what I am about to do this coming week--Revenge of the PirateMan!!! I finished my schedule and nutritional layout this morning, and this afternoon I celebrated the high holy day, Festival of the Bottles:

This is my run nutrition, left to right, for Days 1-4: Blue Gatorade for Day 1, whatever is in that next bottle (I think it's Gatorade and Ultra Violence) for Day 2, 2 Cokes (which are now busy defizzing) for Day 3, and lots of Ultra Violence (which I will just chug before/after each out and back section that I do, so I can drink it fully fizzed) and Gatorade (Lemonade flavor) for Day 4, which is the marathon.

This is my pre- and post-race fortification. For Day 1, I'll drink 200 calories of Ultrafuel in addition to a PowerBar. For Day 2, I'll drink 300 calories of Ultrafuel; and for Days 3 and 4, I'll drink 400 calories of Ultrafuel. After I complete each day's event, I'll drink a bottle of water and a bottle of Endurox R4 (Endurox is behind the pink Ultrafuel bottles).


These are my bike bottles, which I will fill on Monday. On Days 1 and 2, I'll use Polar bottles that will be filled with Infinit. On Days 3 and 4, the bottles in the foreground will be loaded with concentrated Infinit, and I'll have a bottle of plain water along to dilute as needed. Day 4 will see the debut of my pirate bottles, that I ordered with the stuff I wore at IMLP. I have somehow refrained from using them up until this week!

Tomorrow I'll fully clean and lube both LGL and Bitch. I'll ride LGL on Days 1 and 2, and Bitch on Days 3 and 4. So far, the weather forecast is looking pretty good, but you never know around here this time of year! It could be blazing hot or chilly. This morning I did my last workout before ROTPM--I rode about 48 miles really easily in the morning, and it was pretty darn cool out. I hope it warms a bit this week, as my preferred racing temperature would be about 78 and sunny!

This is all going to be an out of body experience, I think. I can remember back 9 years ago when I'd signed up for my second Ironman before I'd even completed the first one! And now, I am officially entered in my second Ultraman (if I'm allowed to consider ROTPM an Ultra) before I've completed the first! Very odd, indeed. Kind of like this: