The decision!

After a lot of thinking and incessant talking, I’ve decided to aim for Ironman Canada in late August 2009 as my target race.

To sign up for most Ironman races in North America you basically have to line up the day after the race at the race site. This has been the “tradition” at IM Canada for at least a decade.

The race is held in and around Penticton, British Columbia. It so happens I’ll be in Vancouver on business the week before the race, so I’ve rented a car and found a place to stay, so I’ll drive thither on the Friday before the race, hang out on Saturday, spectate the race on Sunday, and sign up on Monday, before returning either home or to Vancouver to work. (Because of the immense drop fee Hertz was going to charge me for leaving the car in Kelowna, I’m going to drive back to YVR anyway.)

I had been torn between Canada and Ironman Wisconsin, the race I sort of did last and was supposed to do this year. As a registrant this year I get the secret decoder ring that enables me to sign up on Saturday for next year. But to make that happen I’d have to fly over night from Vancouver Sept. 4/5; and Coach Steve wisely pointed out that with my work history I might well be prevented from making it to Wisconsin at all that weekend. A sign-up at Penticton would be the proverbial bird in hand.

So that’s the plan!