Having spent our wages on pre-race merchandise, we returned back to the flat to meet up with Mam and Dad who had arrived with another car load of provisions! More unloading and a cup of tea later it was time for my first dinner, eaten briskly before B joined me for a drive to Carew Airfield for the briefing by “Voice of Ironman” Paul Kaye, accompanied by a rapping medic and the race referee. Things were getting mighty real and just watching Gary, who we had managed to join at a table, fidgeting about, was making me a little nervous too! There was a huge amount to take in for a newbie like me – how clean transition would work, a change to a rolling swim start, the change in the advertised time for the warm up Saturday swim….., all in a hall of maybe 1000 people on a damp grey evening. Emotions of excitement, fear, nervousness all washed over me as we walked away, wishing Gary luck for Sunday and returning to the flat in Tenby for a second dinner and a massage.