Tonite is the pasta party where we carb up with pasta of all sorts. We wear an ID bracelet which gets us into the dinner (but also identifies us if we pass out mid-race):

Ken took me out to Radio Shack to get some batteries for my Powertap Disc and hopefully my mobile. We pass a hot tourist spot, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, along the way:

Look at the Titanic sinking there, into Ripley’s museum! Wow, do I believe it…or not?
Unfortunately, I did not find a new mobile battery. My mobile is dead for this trip. I did get some batteries to try for my Powertap though. After Radio Shack I get to the pasta party:

Mike Reilly hosted it, and Paula Newby-Fraser, Ironman legend, spoke.
Mike Reilly is the guy who always shouts, “ You’re an Ironman!!!!” at the finish line. However, I still have not forgiven him for NOT announcing I’m an Ironman at my first Ironman in New Zealand. Grrrr…

These two ladies are amazing. The one on the left is 18 years old and doing her first Ironman. The one on the right raced Kona a few years back at age 61 and set a new world record: 12 hours and 34 minutes. Simply inspirational.

This guy LOST 127 POUNDS training for this Ironman. He is only 5’7″ tall! Geez.

This woman won the Ford Everyday Hero award. She weighed 380 POUNDS before she started training and now is devoted to raising money to fight cancer. Obviously she does not weigh 380 lbs any more.

Big Dan and me at the pasta dinner, both of us getting pumped to race:

I head home and wash up to go the sleep, with the memory of this vision to take me to bed: that of the Slingshot across the street from my condo in bright neon, soaring majestically into the sky:

And to all, a good night…