7 days and counting...

Registration for Ironman Arizona: $425
Trek road bike: $1500
Wetsuit and other tri-gear: $500+ (you don’t want to know!)
Crossing the finish line on April 9th and becoming an Ironman: Priceless

For the past 10+ months, some of you have heard nothing but triathlon talk from me – thank you for your patience and support! For some of you, this might come as a surprise – I’ve been so busy training for this triathlon, I’ve managed to lose touch with quite a few of you – sorry about that!

Next Saturday, April 9th, I will embark on a grueling journey that I never imagined I would try: a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run (all in succession) in Tempe, Arizona. The race starts at 7 a.m. and the course closes at midnight. My goal is to cross the finish line with a smile on my face…and not be the last person to finish! ;-)

There’s a great website that offers live coverage of the race and even specific information on me during the race for those of you that can’t make it to Arizona: www.ironmanlive.com. For those of you that will be there for the race (thank you! thank you!), there is a spectator’s guide and other good information on the following website: www.ironmanarizona.com

Ironman North America has not announced the 2005 TV schedule for this race, but I’ll let you know when they do. For any of you that get Fox Sports Network Arizona (FSN Arizona) they will be showing it on the following days: Saturday, April 9 (race day)-10 p.m. –1/2 hour show; Hour-long highlight shows: Saturday, April 16-5 p.m., Saturday, April 16-3 a.m., Sunday, April 17-1 p.m., Saturday, April 23-7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 23-2 a.m., Monday, April 25-2 p.m., Sunday, May 1-1 p.m. FSN Arizona is offered via satellite service and in Arizona, of course. Usually coverage is focused on the pro athletes, so I am not sure whether I will get any airtime, but it still should be interesting to watch…perhaps I will be so fast that I’ll just be a blur across the TV screen?

So send good thoughts my way on April 9th and I’ll be sure to update you on my Ironman experience!