Thanks All - Ironman Canada is Nearly Here and Could Not Have Got Here Without You!

Hey All

It is nearly go time for 2009 and Ironman Canada on August 30th in Penticton, BC. I come to the start line healthy and ready to put down the gauntlet and have a good race and that would not be without the support, assistance and help of all of you. Being Ironman race day can bring anything and my number one aim will be to have fun out there followed by the mantra of no regrets. I really want to lay it all down on the line come race day (In a controlled manner of course) and look to execute my plan as best I can.

The main purpose of this note is to say thanks to all those whose have helped along the way thus far in 2009 and at the risk of missing people and leaving people out I wanted to send some specific thanks;

Family

Les - Thanks as always for your support in these crazy schemes and one of my goals for 2009/2010 will be to do more dishes (I hate dishes but I figure everyone must)

Mum and Dad - Thanks as always for the support. Still wish I had been forced to go to swim lessons every day as a kid but the exposure to sports of all different types and the 4km runs to the railway tracks and back on flaxmill road with the hill gave me a taste for going fast and running distance as a kid. Race day will just be 10 of those runs :)

To my BC Family - Thanks for all the support, the digs to crash at in penticton and all the support. Hoping to see everyone before or after race day who is up here.

Sponsors

Forerunners and Newton - Thanks for the support thus far this year. For Forerunners it is an awesome store and everyone is super friendly and genuinely interested in how things are going whenever I am in. looking forward to the Fall Clinics and the pizza and beer at double D's post workout.

If you need shoes, clothes, nutrition etc I can not recommend the crew at forerunners highly enough. Also for those of you running in the fall come out to the Wednesday Night clinic - its fun and you will get to look at me shuffle through my first run post IMC on Sep 9th :) - Visit them at Forerunners.ca or on west 4th in Kits.

From a shoes perspective have been really happy with my Newtons for the past year and love the shoes to train and race in. Looking forward to the new models coming out in Fall 2009 and 2010. My feet are definitely a lot less beat up this year and a lot of that comes down to having shoes that just work.

Jerry - Thanks for all the help with the run program this year - have learned a lot and it has worked well thus far. Wasn't thanking you when running the last 10 minutes of a 3 hour progression run but I figure that's to be expected!!

To the Local Businesses in Kits I Use

A huge thanks to Dr Carla Cupido - I have had a couple small injuries this year and she has rocked with treatment and rehab and I am really luck to have access to you as a my Chiropractor and will definitely be in there post IMC.

Thanks to Jeremy, Doug and the rest of the crew at Speed Theory for keeping the Orbea in good nick and advice on the bike related side.

Those I have Trained with this Year

There is a lot of people I have swim, bike, run with this year (Too many to mention names without missing somebody). I have learned a lot from each and everyone of you and hope to bring those pieces of info and inspiration to race day. The best part about the whole training process is you get to train with, hang out with and meet a whole group of interesting people. Add to this some fun stories including Tin Man, Turkey No Mayo, riding through snow at 5500 feet in San Diego or rain on 0 Avenue its been another fun journey and I look forward to sharing some of the winter suffering as well.

To my Non Tri Friends

I can assure you I am not a reverse Vampire who is scared of the night!!! Thanks for putting up with me missing my birthday party - photos were great though (I was truly sick!!!) me drinking water at the bar and various other absences. Looking forward to your support come race day and catching up Sunday night and on Monday - don;t indulge in too much wine on Saturday otherwise Sunday could be a long day. As a reward i think I will sign you all up for Sun Run in 2010 to see who is the fastest over 10k

To the Online World

To those who read my blog, follow me on twitter etc etc. Thanks for all the support and the inspiration I get form reading about your endeavours.Keep on blogging and tweeting and say hi if you see me around town in the next few days.

Follow me on Race Day

If you are interested my number is #261 and updates with splits will be on Ironman.com - follow the link to Canada. My twitter account will also be getting updated at http://twitter.com/jeremyhopwood and my post race report will be on my blog at http://opensourcetriathlon.blogspot.com/

That's it For Now

For those racing on Sunday - Rock It, Have Fun, Keep Smiling and remember that its going to be an awesome feeling running down lakeside. For all those out volunteering and cheering thanks and have a fun day.

Jeremy