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April 20, 2008
The Packet
So last night "we" set about making The Packet for the upcoming St. Anthony's triathlon. I use the term "we" loosely as I mostly just sit around while O does all the work. Actually, I made good use of the time by trying on my wetsuits just to make sure they are still in one piece and still fit (they always look so much smaller than I think my body looks...). Anyway, it's safe to say the wetsuits are just fine but I did lose about 3 pounds in sweat wrestling to get them on.
ANYWAY - you may be wondering what The Packet entails. (or maybe not, but I'm going to tell you anyway). The Packet is a very extensive set of maps and instructions, schedules, race details and list of places to eat, grocery stores, etc... all completed for each race I do.
I'm not sure how this all started. I guess mostly because I'm a bit OCD and I hate getting lost or not knowing where to go for this or that and O is addicted to maps. Add that together and you come up with The Packet.
So there are the obvious maps - how to get from the airport to the hotel, the hotel to the race site. And then the instructions on where and when packet pick-up are, where and when to check in the bike. Phone numbers and addresses for just about ANYONE and EVERYTHING you can think of. Where we can eat. Where we can go to get some groceries. Everything. This is made especially important because I am actually flying out early Friday morning but O isn't flying until late Friday (because he didn't have the vacation day to take Friday off). This means I'll be left to my own devices for all of Friday which COULD be disasterous if not for The Packet. The Packet has saved me on more than one occasion (I am very proud to admit that I survived one whole day in Clearwater by myself last November and didn't get lost once!).
Now O doesn't really need The Packet himself. He looks at a map once and somehow an imagine of an entire city is burned into his head. Then, weeks later we will be driving around in this unfamiliar city and I'll say "man, I would like to eat at Subway for lunch" and somehow the man just knows that if we turn left here and then turn right at the stoplight, there is a Subway on the corner. I once asked him what he thought of those Garmin devices that people have in cars to give them directions and he instructed me never to buy one for him. "I would be offended if you thought I needed something like that." Well okay then!
But what O does include in The Packet for himself is a very detailed system of maps that has been highlighted and marked many times over. These are the COURSE MAPS.
Now every race I go to we drive the course so I can see what I'm in for. Even for the longer races (this is why I can't do a full Ironman - not enough time to drive the full course! :) but O takes the course maps to an even higher level because, you see, he is developing his "race day strategy". You think the racers are the only ones that need a strategy? Think again.
O's strategy includes where and when he will be at different spots on the course. And this is very important. You would not BELIEVE how often I will see him out there on the course - including the races that have very spectator UN-friendly courses making it difficult for family/friends to see you at more than just the finish line.
Nope, O is everywhere. I think it all goes back to our days in college where I ran cross country for Penn State. We met in college (I was just a sophomore) so he watched a lot of cross country meets. And he was that crazy kid running ALL over the place, to about 10 different locations on the 5K course to cheer. You saw him at the mile marker, at the 1.5 mile marker, at the 3K marker AND the 2 mile marker. You saw him running up the hill and somehow you still saw him when you were running down the other side. You could hear him everywhere. And of course you saw him at the finish.
Not much has changed. So again, last night, I saw him staring at the computer, measuring how far it was between the swim start and transition and then calculating how fast he'd have to run to get from transition to point X out on the bike and then if he jogged over a street to see me again and then on the run he would see me here, there, here and there x 10.
It's incredible. And much appreciated. I can always pick him out. Even when I'm riding by on my bike at 25 mph. And he always has the most encouraging words to say. He's seen me looking very bad and he's seen me looking very good. I remember last year at my first half IM I was very nauseated on the run and saw him right before I entered a section of woods. I'm sure I looked bad. In the woods I actually threw up and felt MUCH better. All of a sudden I could finally RUN! So when I saw him again as I exited the woods I told him through my heavy breathing "I just threw up and I feel much better." To which he responded (at the top of his lungs so EVERYONE could hear :) "I LOVE IT WHEN YOU THROW UP!". But besides that, he is good at telling me what place I'm in (no easy task in triathlon where it's really hard to tell who is in what age group) and how far ahead the next gal is.
It's definitely a team effort. And I don't know what I would do without him. We train together (at least on the run we do :) and in may ways we "race" together too. Just this morning he ran 10+ miles with me in pouring down rain. Not too many would do that.
So with The Packet in hand, you can find me wondering around St. Petersburg in just a few short days, counting down the time until O arrives and we can finally find that Subway that I've been wanting to eat at... :)
Now excuse me while I go start that bike ride I was supposed to start about 2 hours ago... :)
Posted by beth at April 20, 2008 4:35 PM
Comments
You guys should start a Packet business. That is such a GREAT idea to bring to races and to do a bit ahead of time.
I'm glad O is such a good cheer-er. (Maybe he could give Andrew some tips!)
-Danielle
Posted by: Danielle at April 20, 2008 5:39 PM
I think Danielle has a good idea re: the packets...and you only have to do them once for each race/city and they will probably have few changes from year to year...
Posted by: Audrey at April 20, 2008 5:52 PM
P.S. Not to say that Andrew isn't a GREAT support, but he always seems to miss me at races. I have gotten used to saying bye to him at the start and then him finding me about 40 minutes after I've finished...
Last year at the race I tore my peroneus in T2, the doctor wouldn't let me walk on it. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for Andrew to come and carry me and my gear to the car. It was a 10k run AND he'd seen me enter T2...and after waiting for an hour, I finally borrowed a cell phone from a volunteer and called him. He shouted, "Where are you? I'm so worried!" Turns out he was standing on the other side of T2 the whole time waiting for me to come out and start the run! That could have been the world's longest transition!!! That is why he needs a packet!!! :)
Posted by: Danielle at April 20, 2008 6:05 PM
Hmmm, a packet business.....fits well with having summers off for teaching. Maybe I could send out some trial packets this summer. If you're interested in the St. Anthony's packet I put together, just put a comment on my blog about how to get in touch and I can email it to you. Maybe I'll look into how to post a word document on the blog.
But, regarding Beth's nice comments about the race, I'm glad I can help out how I can.....Don't tell her this, but it really comes down to the fact that I would be bored out of my mind if I just plopped down and sat in one place for 2 hours (olympic) or 5 hours (half IM). Instead, I like to get out and around.
Posted by: O at April 20, 2008 7:09 PM
Here's a link to an "invisible" page on Beth's triathlon website where you can download our St. Anthony's "packet." It's invisible in that you can't see it from Beth's main website, but you can navigate back to Beth's website from this page. http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeqvdpl/packets.html
Posted by: O at April 20, 2008 7:43 PM
O -- you are awesome, and a true engineer.
When I was traveling every week for work, I used to make packets for each place I visited. It's no fun showing up in a city you've never been in, at 11 PM on a Sunday night because your flight was late, driving a strange rental car, and having to find your hotel without a detailed map.
By the way, you might want to check out this website: www.tripit.com -- I've been using it to organize all my travel, flights, maps, meetings, etc. It's pretty useful.
Posted by: B at April 20, 2008 8:30 PM
Hey B,
Both Beth and I thought the website was for triathlon travel from Pittsburgh (tri-pit), not for generally planning trips (trip-it). Oops!!
It looks like a neat site. I'll have to play around with it.
Posted by: O at April 20, 2008 8:37 PM
Ok, you might think you wrote an entry about the packet system you and O have. However, it reads like an endearment to your husband more than anything. It's s really sweet entry.
Good luck with your taper week!
Meghan
Posted by: Meghan at April 21, 2008 12:15 AM
Wow! That O fellow is pretty awesome! Reminds me of Gary running all over the place during races to get pictures and cheer me on. He particularly likes the mountain centuries so that he can drive all over the mountain roads to the next point. Except for the maps-- Gary's not always into maps. We have a running joke from a race in a small town years ago where he figured that it's a small town so how hard can it be to find the packet pickup location? Maps?! We don't need no stinkin' maps!
Posted by: Alicia Parr at April 21, 2008 9:54 AM
The "Packet" is probably all you need, but if you have any questions about places or directions, let me know. I grew up in St. Pete :)
Posted by: Bri Gaal at April 21, 2008 10:15 AM
Good luck and "knock 'em dead kid"...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at April 21, 2008 4:03 PM