Teaching ... myself

3am. September 7, 2008. Breakfast. I was 170 and took 4 units and ate the old boiled eggs that I had made for Bill Carlson as well as some cold leftover maccaroni and cheese. Breakfast of champions. I had slept 7 hours at that point and was really doing well mentally. I decided awhile back to enjoy this experience because it would in all likelihood be the only time I ever do Ironman. I was not really nervous...well, at least I wasn't scared. I was even able to sleep another hour. 5am. Michelle and Stacy stop by and pick me up and take me to Ironman. I need to take a moment to thank Michelle for dreaming up this whole project in a coffeeshop and then making it happen - and for supporting me this entire year with advice and smack talk - and for giving up her spot in Ironman to make sure that the documentary gets done right - and for giving up her house to me and my family for a whole week. The lady is amazing. Ok, back to the story. I go to drop my special needs bags off and who do I

OK - its 2:3oam and I am up for breakfast and I checked my email and what do you know, but Michelle sent a link for everyone to follow the Twitter updates. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=triabetes As for me - I have slept well and hope to get another hour or so in. The weather looks good - maybe some T-showers this evening... I was worried about rain during the bike and ended up packing all sorts of junk into the transition bags. My watch has been counting down the days until Ironman and it always seemed so far out. I remember when it fell below 100 days and it seemed like it was just around the corner. Now it says "Ironman Today" and I am actually looking forward to it. It has been such an honor to be a part of this project and to meet all the amazing people involved. Thank you John Moore for moving in next door and playing soccer with me and for finally giving me the running hat that pushed me over the edge to do this thing. As the song on Golden Girls said "thank

We had a great reception this afternoon but I really must get to bed. I am in good spirits and not too nervous. Got my alarm set for 3am to have a breakfast - and then from then on it should all go well. As for tracking athletes - you can go to www.ironman.com and go to "track an athlete" from there - you can type in my bib number or name (my bib is 778). Michelle has set up a twitter account and it should have updates as they come in from Triabetes spotters - the problem is that you need to somehow log in on your phone or something. It is way past my understanding - but you can see her contribution at her blog http://triabetesdocumentary.blogspot.com/ and you can email her at curejesse@gmail.com if you want directions on how to do this. Sorry I am not more help on this - she explained it to me, but it was too much. I will update everything after the race - just been kind of hectic - however, Russ and Reid (talking into Triabetes 09) and Benjamin got here today after

OK, so I finally caved and shaved my legs. The car is packed and ready to go. I just have to remember to put mine and Dave's bike on before we take off tomorrow after school. It seems like a festival like atmosphere this whole week of Ironman - so it should be fun. Its almost sad to be coming to the end because the journey has been so worthwhile.... never thought I'd say that. Thanks to those of you who have supported me and the Triabetes effort - I might finish on Sunday (hopefully before midnight) but the cause that is Triabetes is continual and permanent. I think that we already have a Boonie signing up for Triabetes 09 in Arizona.... I will leak his name as soon as I am sure he is in. I shall try to keep my nerves at bay and to put the whole thing into the proper perspective and just enjoy the marrow out of this experience. Michelle was telling me about a 14 year old kid (snowboarder) who died recently from a diabetic/asthmatic attack and it really reminded me that