no sleep tonight

... because it is "Ironman time". In a few hours I will be glued to the cellphone, computer and the heater, so now instead of working I will rest. I really hope the internet doesn't let let me down!

Maybe I'll post a painting update later, but now my heart and mind is at Lake Taupo, New Zealand and work has to wait. It is the 25th anniversary of the oldest international Ironman competition. By my calculations the athletes are about an hour from breakfast, having to eat early before the swim. Check-in and numbering is in three and a half hours although the website count-down clock has added 12 hours to that. The start is at 7am, Saturday morning, New Zealand time. The bikes will all have been checked, and locked in position under guard overnight. The camping grounds, hotels and motels will be full... and I'm not there!

I am very, very proud of my athletic family. The girls run half marathons just for fun, they all work out because they enjoy it, and my son is about to start his third Ironman competition. It's all a bit scary for a mother on the other side of the world!

Oh, and this weekend my 88 year-old father is competing on the track as well, at the NZ Masters Athletics Championships...

Zacchi, where's the leash? Perhaps we should walk a little faster. And then home to ironmanlive.

PS Do make the time to read the inspiring stories "Against the Odds" and "Ironmanlife: The Amazing Tony Jackson" on the Ironman website.
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