Calm Before the Storm

Ok, calmish. After my freak out on Thursday, I became relatively calm. There was nothing I could change and I could only hope that the training and prep work I had done would get me through.

I started off Friday with a brief 2.5 mile run. Mostly to keep my legs loose but it probably helped in keeping me calm. I had a minor "irritation" that had to do with getting gas and ice but once I had the car packed and my mom and I were on the road everything felt in it's place.

Stroudsburg, PA is about 6.5-7 hours away from my place. The drive was very scenic and uneventful. Once we arrived in town we checked in unpacked and then head off for Athlete check in. I originally wasn't going to do this till Saturday but i felt I would be better off to get it out of the way and be able to pack my gearbags early. At check in they tag you with a wrist band that needs to stay on all weekend. It felt like a badge of honor! I loved wearing it and tried to have it showing at every opportunity! I also picked up my race packet, 3 gearbags, and my swag bag. The swag bag kind of sucked! It contained brouchers, area specific coupons I'll never us, a small Aquaphor (love), a GU, a short sleeve race tech T, a small water bottle, and a Lee can cozy. The Akron half and full marathons give out better swag! At least give us a jacket!

By this time my mom and I are starving and she's noticed quite a few signs for Petrizzo's Restaurant and it happened to be a half mile down the road. Since it was Italian I could get some carbs in and my mom could enjoy some speghetti. How could that be a bad choice? I'll tell you. It took 20min to get some one to take our order. When I asked to have a chicken breast added to my garlic and olive oil pasta I was told it would be the full price of the grilled chicken dinner ($11). WTF? A breast of chicken is $2, maybe! The waitress must have registered our shock because she offered to fanagle something for us. When our salad came out the dressing was orange french. My mother and I like the red french. I was so hungry I didn't care and ate it. My mom asked the waitress if the Russian dressing was red and if not, what else there was. Apparently, the waitress did not like this because she got a little testy and asked, "Do you really hate it?" To which mom replied, "Yes, yes I do." The list of other dressings was rattled off so fast my mom (and I could see it in her face) almost asked for a repeat. I'm glad she didn't, I'm sure our food would have had a bit of spit in it if she did. In the long run food was not worth the trouble.

This was just the begining of our food problems. Evey time we ate there was an issue. But that was the funniest and worst one.

I packed my gear bags once I got back to the room. I had to drop off the bike and the bike and run gear bags Saturday by 5pm.

Saturday, we drove out to the swim start, looked around, felt the water and dropped my bike. After that we drove the bike course. The course was kind of confusing at first. The cue sheet wasn't quite correct but we figured it out. In the car the course didn't seem that bad. There were a few "Sweet Baby Jesus!" moments. Like, when I had to come to a complete stop and allow a flock of wild turkeys cross! Can you imagine flying around the corner on your bike and hitting a turkey?!!?! Or, when I came to a complete washout of the road! But, the course for the most part was beautiful, peaceful, and quiet.

It wasn't this deep, maybe 4feet.

The run course was a pretty straight forward out and back. Yes, the out was almost all up hill but the run back would be all down. Should be easy!

I then did the athlete briefing. This consisted of instructions on transportation, swim cues, and other important messages. They, also, addressed the washout on the bike course. They were not rerouting and instead it would be a no pass zone. We were instructed to ride single file down and up two sand ramps they had constructed for the race! "You've had a year! Why didn't you just change the route? There's a road just before that allows you to do this!"

After this, I basically done and we headed off for dinner and then a soak in the hot tub.