I'm Heeeerrrrreeeeee

Every day it becomes a bit more real.  With every passing hour it gets a little bit closer.  With each passing minute I am that much closer to starting and hopefully finishing. 

I arrived in Arizona yesterday morning.  My trip started at 3:40AM when I hopped in the car with my wife and she dropped me off at Hamilton train station for a 4:44AM train to Newark Airport.  Of course I woke up at 3:15AM and couldn't go back to sleep, so my already early day started a bit earlier than expected.  I will spare you the details of the trip out here, not really much to say, everything went very smoothly and I was at my parents house by 11:15AM MST. 

After taking care of some work related items, I ate lunch and then headed out for a round of golf with my father and Uncle Russ.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, 75F and sunny, and heck I was playing golf (which I love).  We had a great time, even if none of us played all that great.  Actually I played particularly poorly, but I did manage to score and eagle on a par 4 (almost drove the green and then chipped in from about 30 feet).    It was a great way to start my trip here in AZ.

After golf I had planned to head over to the pool and get in a nice 3,500m swim.  Well, it seems there was swim team practice from 4:30PM - 6:30PM which meant there would be no swimming for me.  DAMN!!!  No worries, I didn't stress over it, instead I headed back to my 'rents, go changed and then went over to my Super Aunt Dot's for an awesome dinner (Filet Mignon).  I started to fade around 8:00PM, the result of my being awake for going on 19 hours straight.  By the time I went to bed I think it was around 9:30AM, way too late for the time I had gotten up that morning.

Today was a mellow day.  After waking at 4:15AM and laying in bed for 45 minutes, I got up chatted with the family for a bit and eventually headed out for a run at 6:20AM.  I put in a solid 5.6 miles in about 45 minutes.  I felt pretty good, not great, but good.  I putzed around for a bit after that, ran some errands with my Dad.  Around 12:00PM I finally got in the swim I wanted to do the day before.  I felt really good in the pool; it was really nice to swim in a nice warm outdoor pool that was virtually empty.  So nice!

After the swim I did nothing except watch "Avatar".  I figured it would be good for me to get in some solid relaxation, basically just veg out for a bit since I know the next two or three days are going to be a bit hectic.  Here is what I have in store for the rest of the week:
Thursday: 
Athlete Check-in:  starting at 10:00AM
Lunch in Tempe:  ~11:30AM
Pick up bike at TriBike Transport: 1:00PM
Pick up race wheels:  Immediately after I get my bike
Ride with fellow athletes:  ~2:00PM
Pick up wife and kids at airport:  7:53PM

Friday:
Last mellow workouts in the AM
Do fun stuff with family
Sisters family arrives:  4:45PM
Athlete Dinner:  5:30PM - 7:30PM
Athlete Meeting:  7:30PM - 8:30PM

Saturday:
Check bike in:  10:00AM - 3:00PM
Try not to freak out:  The rest of the day

That is about it for now, I am actually going to be heading to bed now, I am beat and I need to get my sleep.  I'll write more tomorrow.