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May 17, 2008
Columbia
I have to admit that when I think of Maryland I immediately think of lavish horse farms, prep schools, million dollar homes and lacrosse. I could be TOTALLY off (and likely am), but those are just the sorts of things I associate with the state. And I have to say, the Columbia area is not doing anything to dispel this myth in my head!! As we were driving the bike course this morning we were either passing a prep school, a horse farm or a million dollar house. And although I didn't see anyone playing lacrosse I attributed that to the fact that it was still early and they were probably still sleeping. :)
Anyway, needless to say, it's a beautiful (albeit very busy) area and I really like this race in general. Although I would like to try Memphis is May some year, I think we will be coming back to Columbia for many years to come!
We got in last night after a relatively short, quick and easy drive! Of course I can say that because I never do any of the driving but in my defense, nobody ever asks me if I want to drive. I have not a clue why... :)
So this morning we slept in until around 7 am and then got down to business! We headed out to the course and drove the bike route first. I remembered much of it from last year. I would call it "rolling" but I know those rollers will feel big and more like hills when I'm going really hard in the race!
And then I rode a little on the course and ran a little on the run route with O. You aren't allowed in the water here the day before (I know this because I tried last year and got yelled at) so no swimming today.
A picture of my trusty steed Scotty and I this morning. (I know, very original name considering that Scotty is a Scott, but really it's the name that stuck so who am I to second guess?) You may note the Zipp 404s that I am very excited to be using. They aren't mine but my friend Jeremy's who is so kind to let me borrow his wheels. Last year I did this race with my regular training wheels. I don't know how much of a difference race wheels make but in weight alone it has to be big! I feel like my bike weighs about 10 lbs less with Jeremy's wheels!
Next we headed to packet pickup and the expo. Now O and I are usually not expo buyers. We usually quickly walk through and decide that everything is too expensive. But today we kept finding deals. The first table we happened upon was full of running shoes for $50/pair. Now how can you pass that up? Apparentely there is a running shop nearby that allows people to buy shoes and try them and if they don't like them they can return the shoes after a certain number of days. So these shoes were worn on a run or two by someone else and returned. Now the shop can't sell them as new so what to do? Well apparently you take them to a triathlon expo to let a bunch of poor triathletes buy them for only $50/pair! (I say that jokingly because I know that anyone with enough money to even be in the sport of triathlon at all is in no way, shape or form poor, but you know what I mean :).
So O and I each found a pair of Asics that we liked. They even had our sizes which is amazing because I wear a pretty common size (7) and lots of sales usually involve women's sizes of either 5 or 10.5. :) O found his size too and off we went!
We looked around a little more before we found the table with the discount swimsuits. I can usually never justify buying suits at places like this because I get my suits for $30 through a discount outlet. Yet what do I find but suits for $30 (actually making them cheaper than my deal because I have to pay shipping otherwise)?! And good ones! And cute ones! And ones that are my size! I actually had trouble choosing because they had so many good ones. O found himself a suit for $25 and the nice lady even gave us a deal for buying 2 suits (even though one was womens and one mens). And we were off again, thus concluding our most successful expo shopping to date.
Our loot.
It wasn't even 11 am by this point so we drove back towards our hotel, grabbed an early lunch and now we are just hanging out and relaxing. I've showered, stretched, iced, rolled. I'm ready to go! We just have to drop off my bike tonight at the transition area and I want to go over the run course once in the car (you can't drive most of it because it's in a park on a little path around the lake that we swim in).
O and I are getting this "day before" routine down. Last year we struggled - got things all out of order (like trying to drop the bike off before we got the packet and the bike numbers!) but now we are becoming old pros. :) Of course it helps a lot that we remember our way around from last year. I'm already scared for the NYC triathlon later this summer where these two country bumpkins are going to be left defenseless in the big city!! :)
Posted by beth at May 17, 2008 1:15 PM
Comments
-To help support your views of Maryland, I was seeking through the AM radio while going to get ice and found:
(1) Horse racing coverage (I guess the Preakness is going on today about 25 minutes from where we're at)
(2) Lacrosse - UVA vs UMD
Also, we are total suckers for GREAT DEALS!!!! As long as it's a good deal, we go for it. For example, at lunch today I got the Quizno's "Large" sub for $5 since it's normally $8.80. WHAT A DEAL!!!!
One other sign that we're getting this pre-race day routine down is I took a 1.5 hour nap once we got back from lunch. We would have never had time for that last year. Now I feel fresh and rejuvenated to go drop off the bike and EAT DINNER!! Ah, the life of an equipment manager....
Posted by: O at May 17, 2008 2:41 PM
Good job today, Beth! It was nice to meet you. You did awesome! Happy Recovery and good luck at Best of the US! Linsey
Posted by: Linsey at May 18, 2008 2:04 PM
I got some breaking news from O's blog...congratulations on your great performance today! I can't wait to hear your version of the events. It's so great to see your hard work paying off!
Posted by: Alison at May 18, 2008 10:01 PM
STUD! You amaze me... are you thinking "pro card yet" I was so excited to check the results (knowing you love the hills). looks like you showed em just how much you love hills!
Hey, good loot too!
Posted by: Bree at May 18, 2008 10:10 PM
Re: your assessment of MD, it's not so much MD as the DC area in general. There are prep schools, horse farms, and million dollar homes all over the place. Though a million dollars buys you at lot less house here than it does in Pgh.
Posted by: brian at May 19, 2008 9:09 AM