Happy 40th Birthday to me :) I get to celebrate my birthday for two days now -- today it is March 6 in New Zealand and tomorrow it will be March 6 in the US.

I had a nice breakfast this morning with cards from Ruth, Helen and Lindsey (the women whose B&B we are staying at) and Erika and Rolf (Ruth's parents).

One thing I LOVE about doing an Ironman around a big birthday like this is seeing my future in the other athletes. And my future is FIT and FAST. I can't wait to someday be able to swim/bike/run as fast as the 40, 50 , 60 and 70 year olds! In the past, I have lamented aging, but doing it on an Ironman only provides motivation and something to look so very forward to.

Today we are planning a trip to Aukland and a swim/lift (my first workout since IM) at the Y there -- and then a trip to the museum. Later today, some sort of celebratory dinner and I plan to have multiple "filthy martini's" to celebrate my birthday.
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We went to the Aukland Y for some lap swimming and were disappointed to read the sign that the pool water was low and no "tumble-turns" allowed. To make sure everyone abided by the rules, they draped a lane line across the pool a couple of feet from the deep end making it almost impossible to even push off the wall. But I managed to get in a good swim and we decided to go to the museum in time to see a Maori show rather than lift weights.

After a bit more sight-seeing, Ruth took me out for a nice birthday dinner and we finished the evening with a most pleasant conversation with our hosts.

2400 Swim @ 00:55:00