IM Prep

Here we are in CDA, Idaho for the race!

6 of our 7 team athletes are renting a house together, and momo (the 7th) has another house with her whole family. Tri-dogmom was smart enough to reserve the house BEFORE the race even went on sale last year at this time, so we have a fantastic location for our house. The transition area and IronVillage is set up in a big park by the city beach, and our house is literally on the opposite side of the park. It's amazing! She really hooked us up. The house is also totally renovated, big enough for 6 triathletes and all their gear, and really nice. We couldn't have done any better!!

We have all registered and gotten all our stuff. We also drove the bike course yesterday. It seemed to go on and on and on forever. Not a good sign! :) And it was really, really hilly. Steep hills. Not a good sign. Afterwards, we went for a ride and went on an out-and-back stretch along the lake in CDA, and that part was really pretty and really fast. But the 2nd half of the loop (which we do 2 times) looks a lot tougher. It really reminded me of Wisconsin, only with a little bit steeper hills. I'll definitely follow up next week with a more detailed description of how it went.

Overall, it's amazingly beautiful here. And the temperature is a huge relief from Arizona. It was 111 degrees on the way to the airport, and like 70 when we landed. Race day temps look to be in the 60's for a high, and possibly windy. The local stations even used the dredded "rain" word as a possibilty, but we're going to think positive and pretend it didn't happen. I've had a rainy, windy IM already, let's try something new this time! How about great weather!!

So, we're all getting bikes and gear bags ready. And we'll go to the athlete dinner and information meeting tonight. Then we turn our stuff in tomorrow, and the next day is IM. Wow - it's definitely getting very, very real. Oh yeah, the water is very cold, too. Thank goodness for wetsuits.

I'll try to get an update tomorrow, then early Monday am I'll post the results for the team.