Starting to get very real

Last night I ventured down to Ironman HQ in St Kilda for race registration. A very large tent, almost the size of a soccer field, has been erected in the park land just South of St Kilda Baths. Inside is an expo with 30 or more vendors, big screens playing pro triathlete interviews or scenes from other Iromans, the registration desks and a small theatre showing the race briefing every 30 minutes. The race briefing was 15 minutes of information, too much information to absorb for someone who has never done an Ironman before.

The race kit came in a very impressive bag specifically designed for Triathletes, I'll put a photo up of it later. Inside the bag were 2 different coloured plastic special food bags (1 for the bike leg and 1 for the run leg), 2 different coloured mesh transition bags (1 for swim to bike, 1 for bike to run). The transition bags have my race number attached in very big writing on one side, whereas we are supplied with stickers (containing the race number) to attach to the special food bags. There is also a sticker for the bike (attaches to the seat post) and for the helmet. The race bibs themselves are plastic sheets, slightly small than A4 that you can either pin to your top or attach to a race belt (nearly everybody uses a race belt). We are supplied with 2 separate race bibs (same number on both), one for the bike and one for the run - the only reason to have 2 separate ones is to put different sponsors on each.

The bag itself has a tag attached with my race number on it. This can be used as a gear bag to stow the clothes you take off before the swim. It will then be transported to St Kilda to be picked up after the race.

At registration that attached a wrist bracelet. I need to wear this until the awards banquet on Monday night (ie. 6 days). It looks like I've escape from a hospital ward.

Maybe it was sleeping with the Ironman bracelet on my wrist or just the excitement starting to stir, but I had my first Ironman dream last night. In fact it was a nested dream where I was dreaming in my dream - I'd wake up after my dream and realise it was a dream, but I was actually still dreaming. The good news is that after some weird happenings in the race lead up, my Ironman ended well in my dreams. You might say I've already had my dream Ironman.