RACE MEETING DAY- Is that a Tropical Storm looming ?
What a sleep, I awake feeling relaxed and well rested, stretching this way and that as I rise out of bed, I pull back the heavy hotel curtains anticipating a stellar view of Lady Liberty, ” where is she”, I exclaim, “she is there I just can’t see her”, Lady Liberty is socked in under the pending arrival of Tropical Storm Andrea, ” Oh dear” , I think to myself, then reach for the phone to order some breakfast.
Today is a big eating day for me, time to stock pile, for many the school of thought is pasta and lots of it, carbo load, carbo load, not me I am taking in protein and fat, good quality clean food. I place my order, before long room service arrives with my over sized breakfast, she looks around to see where the second person is, who is surely sharing this mound of food, ” um just me”, I say with a shy smile.
She sets the table up by the window and leaves me and to feast, what a treat I very rarely indulge in room service. I munch through my steak, eggs, fruit and toast while looking at the headline of today’s paper, ” Tropical Storm Andrea expected to lash New York City tonight, predicted sea surges”, ” Oh Dear”, I think!
Next up I check the water temperature on the NYCSwim website, it has been hovering around 62F for the last 2 days, the page opens on my screen, 59F, ” Oh goodness, lucky for me it has been such a cold spring in Vermont”, I think and with that I change and get ready for Kate Graves who is arriving at 10am to work her magic with a Tai Massage.The massage is terrific, ” Thanks Kate, I feel relaxed, strong and ready to swim.
Race meeting time, swimmers and atleast one crew member are required to attend, Jen Kimmick accompanies me, the rain is teaming, as we arrive I feel my energy level rising, there are swimmers everywhere, some are fellow swimmers from past events, some from distance week in Ireland, some from 25k Nationals in 2011 and some that I have just heard about but never seen in person, I am excited.
We collect our race caps and head into the lecture room, the room is full of bustling chatter, a welcoming medley of accents all around me, Aussie, Irish, English, American and my little Vermont Kiwi accent. The meeting begins
” All of the important stuff has been covered in the online webinar meetings “,says Morty the race director, he is right I attended both the course presentation and crew meeting, they were both excellent, with clear instructions and pointers on where to go on the course and where not to go, my take home, ” point and swim”, it is clear that my kayaker will be chief navigator, my directional fate will be in his hands.
” A couple of last minute things”, says Morty……..
1. This is the first year the qualifying swim water temperature has been WARMER than the swim, the water tomorrow is anticpated to be 60F.
2. New York City sewer systems back up if there is more than an inch to an inch and a half of rain in one hour
3. There are not enough boats, some swimmers have agreed to share
The meeting continues with questions of the course and other bits and bobs, the meeting concludes and you guessed it… ” Time to feed me again” ! Next up an early dinner of an oversized serving of both steak and cake…… I am embarrassed to tell you that I couldn’t quite finish the Chocolate cake, gave it the good old Kiwi try! Back to the hotel to pack up.
Cynthia, Jenn and I head to my room for the final packing, Jenn and Cythina snap into high gear, bustling around organizing the gear into boat bag, shore bag, feeds, eventually I pull on the big oversized hotel robe sprawl on the bed and watch.
The packing is soon complete and we all turn in for the night, the alarm is set for 4am. Sleep takes a long time to come, I hear the rain pounding the windows, my mind dashes this way and that thinking about check in time, race start time, what will my boat be like, will the storm clear…..then finally sleep, my last sleep before the 2013 Manhattan Island Marathon swim, I am pysched to be here, bring it on NYC!
What will NYC toss our way event day? I’ll keep you posted
Closing Thought: There is no easy way