Monday, November 9, 2009

Meet Athlete #2287

Number 2287. That's me! Us girls get the really high bib numbers. There aren't many of us. "How many?" you ask?
  • 2880 total athletes. 2120 of those are men. Leaving only 760 fine ladies in the bunch.
  • There are 65 pros. 41 are men and 24 are women. Some of the pros you may have heard of: Samantha McGlone, Heather Wurtele and her husband Trevor, Kate Major, Gina Kehr, and TJ Tollakson.
  • There is only one PC (physically challenged) athlete registered.
  • There are 9 people with the first name Sarah.
  • There are 130 women in my age group (Female 30-34).
  • The slowest Kona qualifying time in my age group last year was 10:34:52. This means that if I swam, biked, and then only did 1 loop of the run, then I might have a chance of getting a slot.

And maybe you're wondering what all of those people do for a living? I, for one, am listed as a "Cookie Eater". I'm much better at eating cookies than I am at my real occupation. Oh, if only I could get paid for eating yummy, soft, melting chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Besides, "engineer" sounds so boring. Especially amongst all of these folks:

  • Back of the Pack Spandex Inspector
  • Daydreamer
  • Defender of the Universe
  • Dragon Slayer
  • Flux Capacitor Repairman
  • Former Teen Idol (it should be noted that this is a 43 year old male)
  • Goat Wrestler (heh, last year I was a "Penguin Wrangler")
  • King
  • Shepherd from Kansas (I dunno, I guess this could be legit)
  • Sock Monkey
  • Queen Bee Wanna Be
  • Zig Zag Trick Swimmer

There is also a buttload of engineers, accountants/finance gurus, doctors/nurses/physicians, etc. But only 1 lone bartender. I best be bringing my own booze to the finish line.

And in other news...
--I have done something horrible to my knee. I don't know what happened, but half way into my long run on Sunday it started to hurt. And then it got worse and worse until I could barely put any weight on it. Then it became all puffy and squishy. I am now on a strict regemine of ice, ibuprofen, and chocolate. And trying not to freak the f*#@ out. I am trying to have faith that in 2 weeks it will be back to normal.

--I don't know that I have ever been this hungry in my entire life. Ever. This, combined with the reduced training hours of taper and not being able to run, will surely end in a disaster. You know, the kind of disaster where you find yourself on the floor crying, and every pair of jeans in the house strewn about the room and not a single one fits properly.

--Aside from my knee and obsessively checking to see if bib numbers are out, my biggest concern is what to wear on race day. You would think that after hundreds of hours practicing swimming, biking, and running that I would have figured that out by now. Nope. And it all has to match of course.

--I'm really really hungry. Oh, did I mention that already?

--And the most recent development...my body has decided not to sleep. 2-3 hours max and I'm back to being wide awake again. I'm not really stressing about things or waking up in a panic about something. Just awake and ready to organize the cupboards. But instead sitting at the computer and checking the extended weather forecast and seeing if bib numbers are out yet. I guess I'm just left with the weather now.

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