We both slept really well; exhaustion can be helpful like that. We had set the alarm but both were awake before it went off. That is more surprising for me than it is for him. We had a busy day ahead of us and we wanted to get an early start.
As we left the house I wanted to get another shot of him with the sign and balloons since the lighting was better.
A quick stop at McDonalds for breakfast and then it was on to Tempe Beach Park. Today was the first day for Athlete Check-in!
The FIRST order of business was to check-in, get his number and wrist band. Thankfully the line wasn’t very long yet.
Athlete#2964
Then it was time to hit the Merchandise store! I definitely wanted to get a new Ironmate shirt but he tore through that place like the Tasmanian Devil. “I’ll take one of these and one of these and one of these.” We’ve learned that you need to get in these stores early and get what you want because the later it gets and the more days that pass, they can start to run out of sizes.
Side note: we were in stitches when - after the guy put the wrist band on my husband and gave him his bib and stickers – we were told that we needed to go though the merchandise tent to get the Ironman backpack. It reminded us of when you check into a hotel in Vegas; seems you have to go through the casino before you can get to the elevators and up to your room. They don’t want to miss out on the first opportunity to get some of your money!
We walked back over to the TriBike Transport area and it had filled up.
We then walked around the Village and checked out some of the vendors. We stopped at the Norma Tec booth and tried out their systems. My husband used the lower body system and I used the hip system. If these bad boys weren't so freaking expensive, we’d buy them!
Those things must have also stimulated our hunger. We left the Village and walked up Mill Street to find a place to eat. New York Pizza Dept. looked like a good place…and it was. YUM!
Since we were energized after lunch we decided to walk through the Village again.
We stopped at the Got Chocolate Milk booth and had some fun.
But alas, it would soon be time to leave. We were having dinner with the Arizona Chapter of the Skelton Family later in the evening. We would need to head back east to P & K’s house to clean up and change clothes and then drive at least an hour west (maybe longer depending on the traffic – which had mostly been obnoxious) to Peoria, AZ.
Dinner was at the Cheesecake Factory. Everyone was able to attend except for S.S. and sadly we forgot to take a family photo! This dinner would also be when I’d get my Skelton team shirt and the “surprises” to be given to my husband later. As luck would have it, we sat outside and he was facing where we had parked so we had to wait until he (FINALLY) went to the bathroom before the cousins could break into action and put the stuff in the trunk of the rental car. Oblivious to him, we were texting back & forth during dinner trying to plan when we could get these items moved!
I was able to coordinate a Good Luck dessert for him that night.
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