WIBA 2008: Part 1

Or, “Bowl Full of Sunshine!”

I’m writing from a hotel room as a part of WIBA 2008. WIBA stands for “Wisconsin Ironman Brick Adventure.” It’s the 3rd year it’s been held, and Pharmie and I have been to all 3 years. Pharmie is out on a 72 mile ride with other triathletes right now, and I’m bumming it in the hotel room (I’m supposed to be grading projects from my summer Color Theory class). Here’s an update on what’s went down so far:

Pharmie and I left the Twin Cities around 4 pm last night and drove straight to Madison, WI. We met the group just as they were done eating supper. Blogger buddy Robby B lead a small group of us down the street to get some Gelato (Pharmie’s FAVORITE!!!).

Robby and Pharmie enjoying gelato!

We got checked in to our hotel room and hit the hay. We got up this morning and met some friends for breakfast. I learned 2 things while we were sitting around eating:

1. Rural Girl asked if I brought the short yellow shorts (which I DID), and she considers them a “bowl full of sunshine.” And that’s a little creepy, because she reminds me a little bit of my Mom. Don’t tell her I said that...

2. There’s this amazing spray that you can spray around the foundation of your home to keep sneaky waffles from crawling into your basement:

Notice that it’s “Long Lasting.”

“Waffle Off” is just fun to say. Say it with me. No, say it faster. Say it like one word: “waffleoff.” Fun, isn’t it. I gotta get me a can of that.

So we headed to Lake Mendota for my first open water swim of the year. There were lots of weeds:

(Photo from Wil’s hubby, James)

OK, so it wasn’t that weedy everywhere, but there was quite a bit of weeds during the first few minutes of the swim. Here’s a few of us getting ready:

Here’s a group getting ready to jump in:

When we got done, I sprinted back to the car, changed into JUST the short yellow shorts, and came running back down the dock. I got some hoots and hollers from the group, and then I jumped right in the lake. James snapped a photo when I crawled out:

(Photo from Wil’s hubby, James)

Apparently, they get wet, and all goes downhill. They basically turn into Cling Wrap. ‘Nuff said. YOU SHOULD BE THANKING ME FOR PIXELATING THAT “ONE PART!” One lady, who I just met, remarked, "It was like a car accident that you KNOW you shouldn't look at, but you just can't help it!" That's the first time my junk has been compared to a car wreak. Great. James has more photos of me jumping off the dock and coming out of the water, so stay tuned for those!

We all dried off and headed to another nearby park to get ready for the bike ride. Rural Girl went looking for a bathroom...

...but all she found was the woods, and I think that was all she needed (if you know what I mean). Here’s the group getting ready to hit the bike course:

Pharmie is in the red, near the right

Well, I should take off and get some grading done, while I’m sitting hear in my air conditioned hotel room as the others are in the middle of the hot, sunny, WI countryside working their butts off: