The Day Before Part II

After I finally got around to making a list of everything that needed to be done the day before my race, I got to work! I ate a stabilizing breakfast of a 2-egg scramble with peppers, tomatoes, and feta cheese, along with a whole wheat English muffin with (real) butter, coffee, and water.

Then I made a strawberry-banana Green Monster to drink while I ran some errands. This Green Monster contained:

• 1 frozen banana
• 6 strawberries
• 1 c soy milk
• 2 c spinach

I promise you they do not taste as murky as they look!! You cannot taste the spinach, so it's just like a strawberry-banana smoothie. I swear. One of these days I'll blindfold one of my nephews and have them try one to prove it to you!

I headed out to Packet Pick-up! (always exciting)

I'm so glad Packet Pick-up was located at the race site. Turns out the way I tried to get there was really out-of-the-way. I needed to go to Harrah's (the casino) which was not the one I was picturing. Council Bluffs, IA has 3 casinos right on the Missouri River (casinos are not allowed in Nebraska) which are all relatively close. However, I went to the one furthest south when I needed to go to the one furthest north. Once I figured all of this out and figured out how to get there, I found that it was only 10 minutes from my house instead of 25. Woohoo!

I picked up lunch from Subway on my way to play at the park with my family.

It was hot! I didn't want to wear myself out, so I did a lot of sitting and picture-taking.

We went back to my parents' house to play in the air-conditioning and grill out for dinner. I was kind of sad I was racing the next morning because they made margaritas and I really wanted one! I "settled" for lots of water and chips with homemade guacamole. Yum!

My parents realized I would need to carb-load, so they cooked up a huge pot of pasta! They also grilled a variety of veggies to top it with.

And my Mom made a delicious summer salad of spinach, strawberries, almonds, and a strawberry vinaigrette.

For dessert, ice cream sandwiches!

After dinner we did hooked up iChat to talk to my brother and sister-in-law that live in Virginia. It's still surprising how fun that is! My sisters and I were in the office and then my Dad joined in from his computer in the living room, so we had a 3-way chat going.

Cheers!

Katie has told me that my family speaks really loudly to each other, whether in person or over the phone. I totally saw that last night because I kept catching myself screaming at the computer! I just chalk it up to the fact that we like each other so much.

After all of that fun, I had to go home and finish preparing for the race in the morning. I was happy I had made a list earlier in the day because it made it easy to check that I had everything I needed!

I attached my bib to my shirt and my chip to my shoe, then laid out all of my clothes.

I set out all of the other things I needed to get ready. (I brought the Tylenol with me for after the race. I don't typically pre-medicate.)

I collected my 'accessories' and set them next to my bag.

I packed a bag with water, Gatorade, a granola bar, extra fuel, sunscreen, and a map.

And I packed another bag with a towel, a change of clothes, and flip-flops for after the race.

Finally, I set up the coffee!

I was up a little later than I would have liked, but it was nice knowing I had everything organized and ready to go for the morning. That 5:00 AM wake up call would be here before I knew it!!