It is a joy to tell you about my weekend in Branson, and my journey of finishing the Ironman Branson 70.3!
Paula and I got into town Saturday early afternoon. Neither of us had ever been to Branson before, so we didn't know what to expect. To put it lightly, its a tourist's dream come true. Only in Branson you can find a Hollywood Wax Museum, across the street from a full fledged confederate store! Me personally, I really wanted to hit up the Titanic Museum, then run over to the Segway Track. Before I was able to grab my wallet and dash to the Segways, my lovely wife quickly reminded me of the reason why we were there in the first place, and unfortunately it wasn't for the segways... Needless to say, I got my head back in the right place.
We checked into our hotel and quickly found out that they put us into the wrong room. The nice lady at the front desk apologized for the mistake, and was kind enough to upgrade us to a suite! Gotta Love it!
after getting our things settled at our Hotel, we went over to the Ironman race headquarters, located at The Chateau on The Lake. Its a really nice place. It was buzzing with people. I got in line to check in, and was given everything I need. Paula and I sat through the athlete briefing meeting, where we met with the race director, as well as the head official to go over the course and rules of the race. There were rules for everything! The thing that makes Ironman so tough, is that athletes cannot have any assistance from anyone other than themselves. I'm really glad we went to the meeting because if I wouldn't have known some of the rules, I would have more than likely broken a rule, and been disqualified.
After the meeting, I checked my bike in at the transitions, and received my body markings.
Finished with my gear and markings, we met up with my dad and step mom who came from St Louis to watch the race. I wanted to drive the car along the bike course to see what I was getting myself into. At the Chateau, all the athletes were buzzing about the difficulty of the bike course, and I found out that it was no joke. The course was made up of strictly hills. You were either riding up, or coasting down. there was no flat land to be found.
Seeing the course made me hungry, and there is nothing like pasta for a pre race meal. We found this local joint called Rocky's, which was awesome. I was able to carbo load on some sort of garlic pasta.
I had to get to bed early, as our alarm was set for 3.20am the following morning. In the following post, I will give you a full race report.
cheers!
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