Duck you

So we made it here to wine country yesterday. It is so beautiful here I would consider setting up shop here. We went to the swim start at Johnston's beach and went for a little swim. The water was pretty murky, and you couldn't see anyone until they were pretty much on top of you. That should be interesting tomorrow when there are thousands of people who are all faster than me. I would just pull over to the right, but it is so shallow that my hands actually hit the bottom alot of the way. At one point I looked up and realized that I was in fact being past by a duck. Whatever, they live in the water, and i'm pretty sure that duck has been using. It is sort of weird swimming a race where you can stand up at any point you want. I really did not feel any current, but am told that on the way back there will be a difference in time. My shoulder was pretty sore (a student of mine must have heard it was taper time and decided to pretty much wrestle with me the other day so I pulled my shoulder a bit...ho hum) butluckily after the swim I really don't need any strength in my arms.

The bike ride is so beautiful. We all met up today and drove it together and it is so scenic. The course is a dream, I LOVE rolling hills and there sure are alot of them on the Vineman course. We passed every single winery I have ever drank and then some. For the most part it is shaded and did not warm up til later in the course. BUT it warmed up to 95degrees. I really only noticed one steep hill on Chaulk Hill Rd (go figure, a hill on chaulk HILL road) and besides the point that it is at the 45 mile mark it doesn't look like anything I will have to walk up, which is nice.

The run is not something I am looking forward to and I could honestly do a 5K after and be totally happy. It is so freakin hot, and there is no cover whatsoever during the run, and there are hills. I am going to be hard pressed to keep my heart rate down in that heat. I have never run in that kind of heat so it should be interesting. I dropped off my stuff in my transition area. Bri was trying to be a good husband and carry my stuff and even though about 10 adult volunteers said nothing, a 10 year old kid who was volunteering stopped him and made him turn around. It was priceless. Anyways I laid out my stuff (sunblock, stick, sneakers, frozen hat, cooler with ice and frozen waters and my racebelt). I am hoping that my stuff is still semi cold when I get to it tomorrow and I am just going to dump that water right over my head. I froze my hat so and am going to try to run with sponges around my wrists like I did for one Boston Marathon that was really hot. Not only is it helpful to try to keep your body temp down, but it is nice to wipe all the grime/sweat/tears/snot/sunblock off of your face and "feel" clean.

We are having our pasta party tonight which should be some good team bonding and I am really looking forward to my speech where I get to talk about my reason for training. I will spare you all the details about my "stomach issues" you have endured that enough this season.

We meet tomorrow morning at 5:30 at the start to take a team picture and get our stuff set up and a place staked out in our transition area. This means a 4am wake up tomorrow. Bri is going to love that, my dad is insisting on staying on "east coast time" so tomorrow morning should work out pretty well for him.

Can't wait to report that I have finished. I have no idea how long it will take, I really don't care. I am pretty much just going to try as comfortable as possible because the run is going to be one of the most difficult things I have ever done. I am totally going to PR tomorrow though because I really have no desire to ever do this again, and I haven't even started yet!!!

I am bib number 869 so you may be able to check out my time on the vineman website later that day. Please send me cooling thoughts for tomorrow! Thanks again for all your support, and if I see that duck out there on the course tomorrow I will try to draft off of him or her to improve my time. GodSPEED!!!