3:30 am I was up and ready to start my long Ironman day. Since my parents were volunteering for body marking they were out the door before I even woke up. The coffee was ready and I started eating my breakfast. Oatmeal, a few nuts, banana, raisins, glass of milk w/ protein powder, waffle and a little PB. Plenty of water and a sports drink and I felt satisfied. I haven't been able to eat much lately so I felt like I ate enough to keep me full for the morning. Around 4:40 I was out the door to wait for the shuttle with my friend Peggy. Well, no shuttle after waiting for 10 minutes so we started walking. My hip/groin felt ok but I didn't want to overdo it with a 1.5 mile walk to the pier. Luckily, a car drove by and asked if we wanted a ride and we hoped in and headed to the pier. After waiting in a long line for our ages on our calves we finally made it into the body marking tent. I headed to the table for my number and I had my number stamped on my arm. With a number so big and ...