RACE WEEK ~ THURSDAY/FRIDAY

We definitely got to Florida safe and sound Wednesday evening. It did take a little longer than I anticipated but we were caravaning with 4, sometimes, 5 cars, 16 people, 2 under the age of 10 and one under the age of 5....so....you know how that goes. So considering all that, we made decent time.

Thursday was a full day. We did one loop of the swim course which is roughly 1.2 miles. It is pretty shallow for a good ways out. I was trying to acclimate myself to the ocean which is a completely different swim than in a 25 yard pool! I could not find the black line in the bottom of the ocean! I did find some jelly fish though but I didn't get stung. It got pretty choppy on the inward part which was good practice. I told myself multiple times to just stay relaxed and and execute nice, smooth strokes. All in all I felt good about the swim and good about the time.

After the swim we came upstairs, grabbed a shower, some food and some decaf (no caffine until race morning). Then I played around on the computer a bit before heading over to the race village to register and look around. The registration line was LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGG. I didn't time how long it took to get through it but it must've been 27 hours! Sure felt like it. We hooked up with some friends and met new ones in line which helped pass the time.

I was also in the market for a couple of tubes and new tires for my bike. It'd been at least 2 years since I changed both and my old tires were looking worn and flat. Plus my front tire kept losing air mysteriously. I didn't want to chance it so I changed tubes and tires for both wheels. It looks great and I feel much better.

Later it was off t0 the athlete dinner. Got my fill of pasta, again with friends. The friends made it better.

I didn't sleep as long Friday morning as I did Thursday. So I got up and took out for a 20-minute run. Easy. Felt good. Then pancakes and coffee with a friend to talk over life and race strategy. Mostly race strategy.

So here I am Friday morning. We'll check in the bikes and get the bags together. Then chill out the rest of the day. Maybe play some gin with Alex.

But generally, chill!