Great White North was an epic weekend. It may take a few posts to sum it all up…complete with lots of pictures!
On Friday morning Neil and I headed up to Edmonton/Stony Plain for my big triathlon of the year – the Great White North Half Iron!
Our game plan was to leave Calgary early enough to have lunch in Edmonton. We really wanted to go back to the Sugarbowl for their epic chicken and waffles. I figured I should start carb loading with a beverage.
After lunch we headed to Stony Plain for package pick up. We got there about half an hour after it opened and pick up was pretty swift.
After grabbing my swag bag with my timing chip, a free strap, my cap and a water bottle I wandered around the expo. There were custom GWN bike jerseys you could buy (which in hindsight I regret not getting), and Element Sport, Way Past Fast, the Running Room and Prairie 2 Peak (the official Huub reps), Felt and Suunto all had booths. I chatted with Drew and Deb from Prairie 2 Peak about my wetsuit plight from earlier in the week and about how much I loved my first swim in my new Huub. These are two are the nicest people imaginable and I feel like I’m part of a family now that I’m swimming in a Huub. For a small expo there was plenty of great stuff to buy and I walked away with a GWN visor, a Spibelt and a tube of orange flavoured Nuun (a new to me flavour to try).
One of the things I love about Great White North is the value for money in the race registration. We get a carbo load dinner on Friday and an awards dinner on Sunday included in our race registration. I loaded my plate up with salads, some whole wheat pasta with a meat sauce plus a steak. Unfortunately they ran out of chicken very early on so if you aren’t a beef eater you were out of luck (of which there are a few on our team). We took a moment during the dinner/athlete meeting for a quick team photo.
With so many Team Tri Lifers at the dinner it was a great way to kick off the race weekend. I know a lot of us were nervous and feeling like we weren’t prepared enough and it was good to share some of that nervous energy.
And with that it was time to call it a night!
Up next, pre-race workouts and a tattoo fail…
Must be so nice that so many of you were there!