IM FL 2008: Shopping and Registration

Last night I went through my things and found I forgot even more stuff this time! The official scorecard is:
Digital camera
Contact lenses
Fleece pullover
What a pain! At least I’ve got my contacts being fedexed over to me. Hope they get here ok tomorrow.
In the morning off my balcony, the sun is bright and not a cloud in the sky:

I get up and shower, and head up to Ken’s condo where he cooks us some breakfast. I meet another family whose father and mother are doing Ironman for the first time. Lots of Ironman beginners here at this race. Probably owing to the fact that the course is relatively flat, but little do they know that flat does not equal easy…
The transition area has been setup, but very empty of course. There is an ART tent, which I happily go for treatment after registration. Unfortunately they do not possess the kung-fu grip of Dr. Steve!

The shopping tent was huge and well stocked, unlike many international races where everything gets sold out so quickly. Look at those racks of IM FL stuff!

Registration went quickly when the line started moving. I got all my stuff and proceeded home to check it all out.

Ford was in full force, being the largest sponsor. I saw the TriBike Transport guys unloading bikes and equipment, but I could not pick it up then – ugh! I even saw my wheel bag there…gotta go back at 1pm.

Thank god there is an Oriental Market there. I was getting lonely…

A daylight shot of the stupendous Slingshot across the street from my condo complex. You ride in that little blue thing waaaaaayyyy up there between the two cranes and get shot into the sky…for fun.

My condo complex entrance and also the front of the complex.

My condo comes complete with a coffee maker that has retro flames on it. How fast it must be, in making coffee!

As a Community Fund athlete, we got a bag, a T-shirt, and a nice windbreaker and visor. Cool! My shopping loot is in the other shot. Full kit, keychains, coasters, mouse pad, hat, beanie, polo shirt, wool shirt, and awesome arm warmers.

Here’s the bag with all our race stuff. They gave us a license plate frame; were we supposed to be put the frame on my bike?