Ironman Florida 2006. Getting There
Posted by FLATOUT JIM in Ironman Florida 2007
I have already written a race report to describe my experience in the Ironman itself, now I’d like to write about the non triathlon part of my experience.
Heading off to Florida to for the 2006 Ironman was an exciting time for me. I trained hard, and researched extensively. I solicited advice from numerous people who had completed Ironman races. I tried to be as prepared as I possibly could. However, there were a lot of situations that I encountered that I was not prepared for. If you are preparing for the 2007 race, or thinking about trying to register for 2008, I hope you find something here that might help make your experience a little better.
Also, rather than make one very large post, I plan to do several posts on specific aspects of my trip.
Getting There
In case you haven’t realized it, Florida is big. Most athletes traveling by air used either Tallahassee, or Pensacola to fly into. We flew into Orlando. We flew on Aeroplan points, and planned to return to Orlando for a couple of days after the race to turn it into a short vacation. But unless you have a similar reason for doing so, I wouldn’t recommend it.
The driving distance from Orlando to Panama City, is about 340 miles. I estimated a decent 4 hour drive, but I made the mistake of confusing miles and kilometers. 340 miles is actually about 6 hours.
Throw in a couple of potty stops as well as gas, and a food along the way. Then add the time it took us to get off the plane, get our luggage, pick up our rental car, stop for our first decent meal of the day, get lost a couple of times trying to get up onto the Florida Turnpike. Then add the time it takes to navigate around Panama City, trying to get to Panama City Beach and it was well past midnight when we rolled into the Driftwood Inn.
When you consider that our day started at 5:00am Newfoundland Standard time, then correct for the 2.5 hour time difference, and we were really up since 2:30am Panama City Time. That was almost 24 hours without sleep. Needless to say, by the time we arrived, we were tired and cranky, and my plan to make it to the Gatorade swim the next morning, was all but a dream.
Next time, I would consider paying for a flight into one of the closer airports, or if I flew into Orlando again, stay there overnight, get a good rest, and hit the road early the next morning. That would eliminate a lot of the extra travel stress.
Another thing you should make note of, a bike box will not fit into an economy size rental car. I had searched out and found the best deal I could on a rental car. But when I checked in and consulted the rental attendant, I had to quickly change to a Dodge Charger. The rate was still a decent 322.70 for a nine day rental.
Heading off to Florida to for the 2006 Ironman was an exciting time for me. I trained hard, and researched extensively. I solicited advice from numerous people who had completed Ironman races. I tried to be as prepared as I possibly could. However, there were a lot of situations that I encountered that I was not prepared for. If you are preparing for the 2007 race, or thinking about trying to register for 2008, I hope you find something here that might help make your experience a little better.
Also, rather than make one very large post, I plan to do several posts on specific aspects of my trip.
Getting There
In case you haven’t realized it, Florida is big. Most athletes traveling by air used either Tallahassee, or Pensacola to fly into. We flew into Orlando. We flew on Aeroplan points, and planned to return to Orlando for a couple of days after the race to turn it into a short vacation. But unless you have a similar reason for doing so, I wouldn’t recommend it.
The driving distance from Orlando to Panama City, is about 340 miles. I estimated a decent 4 hour drive, but I made the mistake of confusing miles and kilometers. 340 miles is actually about 6 hours.
Throw in a couple of potty stops as well as gas, and a food along the way. Then add the time it took us to get off the plane, get our luggage, pick up our rental car, stop for our first decent meal of the day, get lost a couple of times trying to get up onto the Florida Turnpike. Then add the time it takes to navigate around Panama City, trying to get to Panama City Beach and it was well past midnight when we rolled into the Driftwood Inn.
When you consider that our day started at 5:00am Newfoundland Standard time, then correct for the 2.5 hour time difference, and we were really up since 2:30am Panama City Time. That was almost 24 hours without sleep. Needless to say, by the time we arrived, we were tired and cranky, and my plan to make it to the Gatorade swim the next morning, was all but a dream.
Next time, I would consider paying for a flight into one of the closer airports, or if I flew into Orlando again, stay there overnight, get a good rest, and hit the road early the next morning. That would eliminate a lot of the extra travel stress.
Another thing you should make note of, a bike box will not fit into an economy size rental car. I had searched out and found the best deal I could on a rental car. But when I checked in and consulted the rental attendant, I had to quickly change to a Dodge Charger. The rate was still a decent 322.70 for a nine day rental.
