Final countdown

Wow, it's almost here. Hard to believe it, but after all the pain and suffering of early mornings, constant tiredness, too many bottles of sports drink, it's almost here. After getting into the Okanagan valley, getting over jet lag, seeing family I settled into race headquarters on Wednesday morning.

I'm staying in a house with 2 other Ironmen, and some of their family. Katrina, a very good friend of wife Colleen and myself and she is competing in her first IM tomorrow, and what better way than for both of us to be back on home soil doing one of the best IM races in the world. You're going to rock it Kat! Coming along with her is her coach Chris, or Z as he's called. For Z this is his 3rd IM as well. He's a great guy and I can now see why Kat has done so well in her prep leading up. Well done mate.

We also have our in house staff ;-) Katrina's mom has joined us from Ontario, her aunt from the UK is here and her daughter as well. Now put on top of this, my mom and dad (who by the way will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary on race day, congratulations you two, love you) my sister Jen, her husband Vic, my nephew Daniel, my wife's folks, and of course mancub. I reckon there will be a good cheering squad for us tomorrow.

We've done some good swims, rides and runs since Wednesday and did the check in, hit the merchandise tent for IM propaganda, been to the welcoming dinner, and now it's time for one last little training set of 15 minutes of each. Then take the bikes in and put the feet up.

The weather here has been great and they're calling for 32 come race day. A bit hot, but it's all about hydration. At the dinner, I learned about a few things, IMC is one of only a few IM's that is a single lap configuration. The man who created this event wanted to choose a location in Canada which in his mind, simulated Kona the most. Hot, scenic and challenging. Well sir, I think you've hit the mark on all 3.

The official count for IMC this year is 2900 people, of which there will be over 1100 first timers, WOW! There's a competitor who is doing their 125th IM tomorrow and there's a group of 3 guys who will be doing their 27th consecutive IMC, wow.

So you're probably wondering what this place is like. Well here's a few pictures for those of you who have never been.