The Transition Bag

The 2010 race guide finally arrived in my "in" box just last week. Not that it offered information much different than the 2009 guide, but it was a long-awaited publication I'm sure for some 2000 athletes registered for AZ Ironman. As if we didn't have enough to think about in final days of peak weeks and tapers. We could BMW about that not being done too in order to vent some pent up anxiety onto someone else!

So in pouring over the 'bags' I'll receive at athlete check-in. I made my bedroom floor transition and aid-station central last weekend. From the swim pile, to the swim-to-bike pile, then the special needs bike bag, the bike-to-run transition bag, the special needs run bag and finally it will be done!

Oh, the dilemma over what to put in each. And the distress about 'will I find peanut butter and jelly to make sandwiches while I'm there?' In that contemplation I nearly forgot the swimsuit that I'll need for under the wet suit. Having volunteers strip me naked on the beach after the swim is not only something I want to avoid, but evidently public nudity is illegal.

You need to have reflective material on your bike gear. That's because they think there's a good chance you'll finish in the dark.
You're not to place anything in your transition or special needs bags "of value." I'm wondering what that definition is? I highly value that new Pearl I bike jacket that I'm thinking will feel good on the bike after 70 degree water, and I also think that by the time I hit my special needs bike bag I might be warm enough to ditch it.
I need a friend or family member to get my bike in case I can't make it back by midnight to retrieve it. I either have to get married before Sunday morning or make a new non-competing friend before Sunday in order for that to happen. Everything must be removed by midnight. They don't say "or what." I may find out. Or they may have a new Cervelo and slightly used wet suit, and size 8 biking shoes.

Walking, Running and crawling are legal ways to cross the finish line. All other forms of locomotion are not. Good to know.

Then there's the Julie Moss story that always looms in the back of my mind. Nothing is said about that in the athlete guide.