IM Coz Part 1
The water, weather, and feel of the island is totally worth it all...
Except for the wind. I might die in this wind!
And I have to say that first because I'm going to mention some unpleasant travel and stay details of Cozumel, Mexico. But then I'm going to close it all out with (hopefully) how amazing my Ironman was. It's going to be a little sandwich series of good and bad.
Getting to Cozumel is kind of a pain in the ass. You can either fly directly here for quite a bit more money or fly to Cancun and take the ferry. Everything I researched online said the ferry is minutes from the airport and inexpensive to get there. Well, it is minutes, 60 minutes to be exact. And $93. So I started the day with a flight to Houston + a flight to Cancun + a drive to the ferry + a ferry to Cozumel. It wasn't so inexpensive but I'm not broke either. It was more annoying than anything and a lot of dragging my bicycle box around. A lot. Which, also, btw, was $200 to fly with. Ugh! I would highly recommend TriBikeTransport for IMCoz. Looking back, it was $450, I should have. It's going to cost me $400 anyway and I have to lug it around myself. Ahh!! Hindsight, right!?
To add happy though, once in Mexico, it was all easy and quick. Immigration, customs, and getting a taxi to the ferry site + a taxi to the hotel was a breeze. I'm staying at Cozumel Hotel & Resort. It's more of dive hotel than a beachy hotel (as are most of the hotels here). Dive as in actual DIVING.
In fact, there isn't even a beach out front. The water is across the street and it's mostly rocks and coral. There's a touristy part of the island somewhere, but this north west side is for diving and snorkeling. That's fine, I'm not here to beach it out! I'm here to Ironman! Still, it's quite different than I was expecting.
Okay, the resort is cute, nice ~ big swimming pool area, and my room, it's satisfactory. The best part, there's a water jug/refill site right outside my door. YES! I love water. Even more, I love convenient water! It's the little things like water, right!? Ha ha!
I unpack my things and open my bike box. Always nervous, I'm relieved to find TSA followed my instructions to ensure my safety bar was properly reset after they rummaged through my things (yes, I leave them a little note inside) and my bike is in perfect shape. I had the bike mechanic pump my tires and we went ahead and lubed my chain, checked my gears, and shined her up. Amelia is ready to fly!!
I walked down to the convention center and got all checked in at Ironman village. With bib #245, I'm ready to race! AND, they have the old school Ironman bags, YES!! These are the BEST bags!!! What I couldn't find was air canisters. All the little IM shops were out. That DEFINITELY has to happen tomorrow! And I'm short one tube.
I knew a friend of mine from Brazil is racing here too and I ran into him right away. At 70 years old, CJ is racing his 20-something Ironman in hopes of qualifying for Kona. We enjoyed a Thanksgiving theme feast for dinner ~turkey, meatloaf, mashed taters, pork, salad, veggies and more with resort wine and finished with pumpkin pie. PERFECT!! As if that wasn't all great enough, my beautiful Luca snuck in not one, but TWO quick FaceTime session with me (he's exploring the Grand Canyon and Vegas with friends ~ a pre-Lisa planned trip, as IM Coz was pre-Luca planned).
Now I'm stuffed full, HAPPY, and ready to sleep off this travel. Tomorrow CJ and I are meeting for a very quick breakfast and going to swim on site. Bring it on OCEAN!! Bring it on *squinty eyes* ~feeling determined.
Mom will join me tomorrow evening. YAY! MOMMA!!!!