Yup, it's practically here. In just 8 Days, myself and 2600 of my closest Triathlete friends will be corralled into Lake Woodlands which is just North of Houston by about 30 miles or so. I grew up in Spring, TX in a neighborhood (Northampton) which is about 5 miles from the Swim Start (in case you were wondering...that is one of the big reasons I chose this race).
When the SABBATH TRUMPET sounds it will be a free for all to see how long it will take you to complete the 140.6 mile swim/bike/run adventure and get to hear Mike Reilly say those words you have thought about over and over again in your head since your dream of doing this first started........."Joe Tegeder, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" I only hope that when he is saying it to me, that he's not carrying me across the finish line at the same time :-)
This past weekend I did a final bike ride with some friends. We rode out to the Redhook Brewery for Lunch. It was a great day for a ride and part of me wanted to keep on going but I knew that was not the best idea. I've been trying to take it easy this week focusing on eating plenty of carbs and drinking plenty of water and electrolytes. I'm going to need those for sure next weekend (current air temperature is in the upper 80's with really high humidity levels as well). 
My bike was also shipped out on Tuesday so I had to start packing earlier this week to figure out what I was sending with it. Currently, everything that I need for my trip is spread across my living room floor. The picture to the left is what it looked like 2 days ago but now it looks much worse.
I will be flying out to my home town of Houston tomorrow afternoon. I'm looking forward to it....I'm also terrified but I keep telling myself that feeling is normal.
If you would like to follow my progress online next Saturday May 19th, you can at ironmanlive.com. There should be a link on there for the Memorial Hermann Ironman Texas (make sure the link DOES NOT say 70.3 in front of it...that was for the half ironman a few weeks ago). Click on the link and then either do a search for my name or bib #1569. I'm 100% positive that I'm the only "Tegeder" in the event so you should be safe doing just a name search.
I'm off to go for a short run and some long stretching before I not-s-neatly finish packing my bags for the trip tomorrow. I am also really looking forward to seeing all my family and friends next week.
Thanks as always to all of you who continue to support and encouragement me. My next post will likely be my final race report.
