Today we had a great time with peter and Marcel. I am now stuffed and getting to bed late. The car is loaded and i am ready to go. i am anxious to get this race done and see my friends tomorrow.
The website is in German so it took me a while to figure out what this race is. i really have no idea what the details are but I did find a topo map with the distances and order. I basically trained according to a little sqiggly line across the page and some distances i did not really understand since they were in kilometers. To tell you the truth i have yet to covert most of the distances still. the gigathlon is this crayy race with inline skating, mountain biking, road biking, trail running, and swimming. You can go to www.gigathlon.ch and then click on streke? or something like that to get the map that i trained by. The first day is not for time so i am goofing off on that one and doing it with my friend georgio. i hvae some friends that will come and see me on Fridy night like Peter Muller so it will be an evening with friends before killing myself on saturday. Saturday is going to be a long day. It starts with swimming and then we are on the skates for 57 k or over 3? miles, then i do a 90k bike, a 12k run up the side of a mountain, and then 40k mountain bike pissibly done in teh dark. The cut off is 12:30pm. Sunday i get back up to do another day that could be harder for me to do since it is more technical on skates and mountain biking. Sunday starts with a 43k skate with hills, a 2.8k swim, a 57k mountain bike, a 70k road bike, and then a 24k run. Then it is over. i really am looking forward to this race. i am treating it like hard training and not getting to obsessed with it. we will see how it goes. i predict a fall in teh future but i am going to do my best not to.
it is Thursday morning now. i am waiting for Peter Muller and Marsal to come and pick donna and I up. We are going to Lucern to check out some glacier and play tourist. this will be nice to do something to take my mind off of the race. All i seem to do where i am stayng is trash my legs with workouts so i need to leave just to make sure i take the day off.
i am not sure there will be any blogs until after teh race. i am not sure how t look up the results so i can tell you how to check on how i am doing. i will blog on monday the results.
At least i think it is june 30th but my watch might be wrong.
i am having a good time. i am not on my computer at this time or i would post some past blogs . The swiss here are kicking my butt. They relly have no concept of time while training. i have yet to go on a ride that was really short or flat. This morning I went on a technical ride that was supposed to be flat and only 30 minutes or so. It was about 1 hour and 15 minutes but i did ride most of it and at a good pace. Rinnie is an animal on the bike. She said that was how fast she uaually road it but she never really knew how long it took. It was not bad and the time did not bother me. i did not know how long it was myself until we got done. We hung out at the lake afterwards. I decided it was time to really start resting up for the race, i am really not tepering any for this event.
skating- this evening i ahd a skate lesson with a guy named rodger. Dirk set this up. i was really wanting to sit on my butt. Some rain came and i was hoping to get out of working out. i did tell dirk that i only wanted to work drills. Rodger was my hero when i came here a last time. i went out on this same route to skate with him and we skated down a hill to get back to dirks. This hill was scary for me and i lost control. i was screaming and going into the other side of the road with a car coming at me. Rodger cmae to my rescue like a knight in shining armor. He was so strong and grabbed me and stopped both of us safely out of harms way of the car. I was impressed. Today we drove to the same route but did not do the hill. I got out of the car and took off with my skates. He ahd to catch me and the first thing he said was that i was faster. he seemed surprised. i still have lots of work to do but compared to last time i am better. I tod dirk i only wanted to do 20 minutes with drills. We did not do any drills and it ended up being a workout of 15k. i am not doing anything other then a small swim and some drill on the skates until the gig. These swiss people are wearing me out. i am having a good time but my legs are feeling it. i think i will be ok for the race.
inline skating- this morning i woke up and wanted to hit the pool. i researched my route yesterday for skating to make sure i did not get lost on the skates. i put them on and headed to the pool. I went over the railroad trqacks and skated with more ease then last time i was here. i have a blister on the side of my leg from practicing yesterday. Due to this i did not practice stopping. i wanted to get a bansage n it before digging the hole deeper before the race. This is from just throwing teh skates on with my bike socks. we have to climb 4 flights of stairs to get to our room and i have been doing that often. i am getting my workout since i always forget things.
swimming- yikes. i am in training now for ultraman canada. the weatehr was great today so the only pool the club would let me lap swim in was the outdoor pool. i am not sure what i was thinking but i did not take my wetsuit. The pool was 22 degrees but i got my butt in it anyway. I felt really fast but stayed rather cold the whole swim. My plan was to swim a long workout but at about 2500 meters i decided to cool down and get out. i am swimming as much as possible while i am here. my neck and back are what is bothering me most from my crashes. when i keep swimming it loosens things up. i am not getting my regular massages but i am certain that dirk will take care of me this week.
mountain biking- i cant post what i did yesterday but i conti8nue to get my butt kicked by the family i am staying with. i am on their computer right now but i do have things to post later when i get a connection with my computer. Reinie and Rudolplo decided it would be good for me to do some tehcnical stuff today. the opnly problem is that when you get on your bike here the only way is up. Yesterday we did a ride that was 2 hours of climbing. My legs dont need any more before the race. We did however climb some today but it was not bad. We went by a waterfall that i remembered from riding last time i was here. The last time i saw it i haed not been in the mountains much so it looked like Niagra falls. i kept telling rudolpho i wanted to see it again and he wondered why. When we passed by it it was much smaller then i remembered. i suppose that i have seem more of them now. I am glad i did not drag donna up the mountain to see the stream. it was still pretty. We then did this technical downhill and i was doing pretty good. i was tense but ok going over the rocks. I always ride these out of the saddle and put my weght befhid the wheel. i alaso dont like the saddle bouncing into my butt. My head was rattling all over the bumps and i could hardly see wanything from bouncing all over the rocks. I swallowed a bug and did stop for a second. For teh fist time my hematoma was bothering me. You see when i was out of the saddle i had my quads tensed the whole time. my lateral muscle tightend up and i could feel the bouncing. Once i took a few pedals the pain went away. this hematoma is really not holding me back. for the fist time today i felt discomfort aside from when i fell on it. Reinne was really happy about my downhill and that i stayed on teh bike. It was actually fun. i might of gone faster but i was afraid i woudl run into her. It was only about a 30′ minute ride. As usual as soon as we got on the bike a shower hit us. it was the only small shower all day. i can take it.
The gigathlon-so iam finding out more about this race every day. Friday is a short day and not timed. The mountain bike is not technical but long and the skate is really flat. My friend Daniel emailed me to tell me this info since he has been training on it. This was the day i was most worried about but now i am worried more about Sundy. Daniel saod the skate had some downhills that were fast and that i needed to use the the brake and i would be ok. if you look at the topo map you can see that theere is some downhills. i am meeting with my friend Rodger tomorrow and we will see if i get better. i have learned ways to slow but i freeze up when i start a downhill and am afraid to do anything. The result is me screaminig and taking off like a cannon ball with no control. i am looking forwared to this race and am doing my research. i am not researching it and plnanning it like badwater but when i get back here for the long race it will be detailed planning. Tonight we had some wine and discussed how my shyness is a problem. Last time i was here i did not get naked in the transition. It was obvious tha i was an American. i made my crew hold up a tarp around me and i was the only one doing that. Hey…i dont want to get a nbaked pickture on the internet. Tonight we came up with a plan. We are going to cut a hole in a blanket so it will fit onver my shouders. The only probem is how am i going to get my top on? we were cracking up coming up wiht ideas tonight about how i could look like a ghost and cut some eye holes in some blanket or something. We also thought we could build the tank top into the sheet so when i put the sheet on it would save time. Hey what can say? i dont want to flash everyone even if i am in Europe. i dont want georgio to see me either. i am looking forward to the race. it will be fun. Fridaz night i will have Georgio, his crew, peter muller and all my friends surrounding me. I might not get to see them much on Saturday and sunday since i will be cming in so late. I dont think i am going to be last this year.
dog food- tonight i had a swiss meal. Reinnie was cutting up some cheese and putting it on a plate. i was really excited to get something swiss to learn about the culture. I snuck a peice of cheese off the plate and popped it into my mouth. y face began tofrown and the cheese really tasted lik dog poop. i went out o the back porch and warned donna that dinner would be interesting. I tried to feed it to the dog but the dog is a meat eater. i thorugh the rest of the cheese off the porch and tried to hide it. One of the kids saw me i think. Iwas worried about dinner but we sat down and she had the cheese on an oven that was in the middle of the table. i forger what they told me i was eating but it ended up being good. I could smell teh cheese and i was turning my stomach. I wanted to be polite and eat their favorite dish. i was prepared to force myself and had the salt ready. I saw one the kids putting the cheese on a potatoe. i tried it and ended up liking this stuff. I admitted to them my comcern when i ate the raw cheese and they laughed. They let me know that you they dont even like it just cut up and cold. It ended up being a great dinner. I love to learn about culture. i am having a great time. The fmaily i am staying with have been so great to me. i am very fortunate.
Gigathlon training-Saturday June 27
Today it was raining. The place I am staying is a 3 story house and I am on the top floor. I could tell coming up the stairs a day of rest might be a good idea. This morning Donna and I walked to Dirks office so I could blog and give her a massage. I wanted to skate but It was too wet when we got done so I decided not to get my new skates and bearings wet if the weather would get good. The family I am staying with say that I bring the rain with me. They remember the gigathlon weather was bad for me the last time I came. I am beginning to think that I do have a cloud that follows me. I wonder if it is a sign that I need to stay home sometimes. That will never happen….
Skating-I thought I was going to take the day off but the roads cleared up good enough for a skate. I am staying with a nice couple and they are great athletes with 3 kids. The parents Rodolfo and Reinie have been taking care of me like their kid. Last time I was here they were surprised at how bad my skating was. Rodolfo even commented on one of my skate lessons that the Swiss would not be seen looking as bad as me and that I would be the worst looking one at the gigathlon. He was right. Last time I was here the family did not let me take my skates off. When I went to the pool I skated and they took me on a route that had railroad tracks. I remember nearly having a heart attack and screaming a ton. I went out on this route again this evening. I was already better. I put my skates on in the backyard and skated on the lousy pavement without bitching too much. The chicken blood was still there but not that bad. Donna had on her running shoes and Reinie went out with me. WE came to the railroad tracks and I was not so willing to cross. I noticed how well Rienie was stopping and decided to work on this before going any further. She noticed something I was doing right away that might help me stop. She noticed I was straightening my leg when using the brake and that was why I was not getting any power. I tried it her way and was better but I already have a bad habit. I practiced until I could no longer stand the burn in my chins and then we went for the railroad tracks. I made her go first to see that it could be done and then went right over them without a problem and really did not scream too much. I could tell I was better but I know I looked like a dork. We then went for an over pass and I was going to practice going on the downhill slowly using my brake. That idea went to hell. When I started down the other side I was too scared to try stopping so I just barreled down the other side. Rienie caught up to me and said I was brave. I then showed her my skating and she did say I was much better and seemed a little calmer after seeing me skate in a straight line. I bet at the beginning of my skate lesson she was as worried as the first time I saw her. I am now getting comments that I can do it instead of how bad I suck. I might be ahead of one person at the gigathlon but who knows. We did the railroad tracks a few more times and I am now more comfortable. I am just not sure about rolling hills and turns but I will be getting on the skates as often as possible this week to get the feel of them again. After being off them two weeks I have lost some of the feel. It ended up being a lesson that took over an hour and I did sweat quite a bit. I am still nervous about the gigahtlon. When Rienie asked how long the longest skate was I told her 57k and then I think she was worried again. She said that was long even for a swiss person. I am concerned as well but the gig this year is just research for when I come back to “race” it in the future. I am sure that I am misspelling names just like I am not saying them right here either so please excuse the misspelling. I only hope that someday I can blog that I was a bad ass on the skates but that will be a few years away at least.
Donna and i are having a good time. We left fun at Ullis and arrived here in Switzerland yesterday. I did not even have my bike and was getting charged 120 Euro for something at the airport. it was hard to understand why since she did not speak English and I did not speak German. We arrived and i was greeted by my friend Peter Muller and Dirk de Poost. It was nice to have bag men. We went straight to a bike shop in Kloten close to the airport and picked up a mountain bike for the race. The guy at the shop is sponsoring it. It is about a 10000 dollar bike if i were to purchase it in the states. i dont think the guy knows that i suck in the gigathlon stuff. It is carbon and light weight. Just getting on it made me feel fast. It does feel different but i worked on breaking in the bike last night.
What am I doing? yesterday Donna and i got a chance to relax. i was going to take a nap but after seeing the roads and thinking about skating i began to wonder what the heck i was doing here. I am much beter in both the mountain biking and skating then my first trip here but i am still out of my comfort zone. I was almost sick to my stomach thinking about it but i am better now. i am sure after getting on the skates some this week i will calm down.
mountain biking-last night we went mountain biking with a girls “house wife” group. Donna decided to go with us since we were told it would be all easy. Donna almost got killed by a car 6 weeks ago and the hematoma she has on her hip is 3x the size of mine. We met in the neighborhood at 6:30. I stlll had anxiety and a sick stomach from thinking about the stuff i get myself into. Donna was brave and borrowed some shoes and hopped on the bike. She had better balance then me and does not ever showed that she might be scared. She is tough as nails. The group of women showed up and all were in their 40’s to 50’s and looked like they would all be kicking my butt. An easy ride to them was going to be a hard one to me. We were going to do a “flat” route but i know what that means to a swiss. We started off on teh road up a mountain with some long climbing. We were not even a third of the way up and donna asked howmuch we were climbing. i had no idea since i was getting lead as well. We climbed for at least another hour. The girls asked if we wanted to do some tra.il. i needed it but did not want to take donna on them. She said “yes.” i was not sure if she knew what she hadgotten herself into. We started on some trails that were nice but still wet. There was lots of loose dirt but i loved this kind of trail vs. a single track of hard rocks. Donna went down on our first down hill of loose gravel. i was sick to my stomach. she was smiling and got back on the bike. We kept riding and the trails got a little more technical. some of the other girls walked some of the stuff. i was enjoying it but then donna went down again. She never went down on her bad hip but she got the other side. it was nothing major but i was now sick to my stomach with worry that we would have to catch a flight home today. She was laughing and a great sport. i told the others that we needed toget on the road. The swiss are amazing athletes and donna and i are pretty fit but we were not in our comfort zone. WE got on the road after about 200m and were safe…so we thought. We stopped at a cafe and some had a beer. We enjoyed looking at a lake that i swam in at the gigathlon in 2007. the sun started to come down and we were still on our bikes. It was getting close to 10. I figured we were around the corner from the house. WE got back on the bikes and really needed more lights. Some of the others had them but some did not. We road though long cool tunnels that were like a cave. They were lit and it was cool. We then came out of them into the dark and had soem more uphills and gravel like stuff. My wheel was slipping around and i was freaking out a little. i always have my lights. I was wondering how donna was doing but Reinie was looking after her and had a light. We were close to home but going through some trees where it got even darker. Donna had gone down again but saved her hip. i was feeling like i was responsible. We made it home safe but not without scrapes. We are staying at a docs house so donna got bandaged up. We got home at 10:30 and had left at 6:30. The house wife ride kicked our butt! Donna is safe and sound and i have more confidence. In the end it ended ok. This kind of ride is something i would get myself into but not Donna. What we did last night would be considered nuts in the states but this was a normal Friday night for the Swiss we were with. I am out of my leage here in Switzereland but i enjoy the challenge and am having a good time. WE were in good hands last night. If we did go on another ride i will just make sure we had our lights. i enjoyed the ride but i was worried about donna so that made it not so fun. Donna was great and in the end she enjoyed it. i am at Dirks now and donna is on the eliptical. i have a massage table and will be getting to work. There is rain here now but perhaps this afternoon i can get out and pratice skating some. The things i get myself into. Donna is not so bad off. She is boucing on a trampoline now. I am now able to get online with my laptop so i will post some past blogs as well.
Greetings from Switzerland.
24 Hours at Palo Duro Canyon
Tour de Palo Duro-This was in Amarillo, TX two weeks ago. I call it the tour de Palo Duro since it really was not a race. It was a fundraiser for cancer. I got a call from a guy named Chuck Anderson asking if I would come and ride in it. Chuck was on my first RAAM crew. He had a daughter die of cancer so of course I was going to put this on my list. His son was planning on trying to do 400 miles and was putting a team together to help him with get the first 100 miles done quicker. I was really needing to do some hill repeats so I thought it would be a good weekend. Palo Duro also had a place for mountain biking so you could do whatever you wanted. You could ride some on the mountain bike and some on the road. Whatever combo you wanted to do was just fine. I don’t think anyone really showed up to race except one mountain biker. Chris Anderson wanted to ride in memory of his sister. I was game for camping in my van and just training all weekend.
Chris (chucks son) had a meeting the night before and mentioned he would like us to stay together as a team the first part. We all got jersy’s and I was sitting next to some girl in a bikini with piercings everywhere. She had a cruiser bike. I have never really don’t much group riding but I knew that there were others that had not either. I asked Chris if we were going to be riding pace lines and stuff. His reply was that we were. My mind went “uh ohhh.” I really don’t like to ride close to I don’t know. I was game to give it a shot and the bikini girl was not going to be riding with us. She was going to be on her commuter bike in the canyons. She would have been fine with us as well.
The next morning we all grouped together in the morning and got in front of everyone. We were going to do our first 100 out of the canyons. I got right in front and did not want to be around so many people. We got started and I stayed as close to the front as I could. There was one guy that I noticed was riding sort of crazy. He would look down and his bike would weave. I took note to stay away from him. I call him Jamis since his bike had that name on it. Anyway , Jamis was making me nuts so when we got to this huge climb out of the canyon I decided try to speed it up. I was thinking about the race across the alps as I climbed it. I got out of the canyon pretty quick and regrouped with the others. I really did not hang out in the back too much. We were not really doing an organized pace line either. I decided to “go wunder” this is cranking up my music and riding in my aero bars. I rode away from them for a little bit. There was sag support every 20 miles. I rode on and off with them for most of the day. We were all cruising along pretty good and sort of doing a pace line. I was not paying much attention and was riding on some guys wheel. He swerved and then I realized it was the Jamis guy. I got out of the pack in a hurry and decided to ride beside them instead. About 10 minutes later I Jamis was in front of me again. The pack was disorganized and not really riding in a pace line. Jamis just wondered over by my. I backed off and allowed at least 5 feet between us and got a little over to the side. I guess I did not allow for a man down. He bumped into a guy in front of him and went down. It all happened pretty quick. We were averaging over 20 mph and next thing I knew I was on the ground. I was on my back and could feel my hip and shoulder stinging. I had a cuss word come out of my mouth. I laid there and anxiety started. I was leaving for Europe in 2 weeks…this was crazy. I had some guys looking at me and they asked “are you ok.” My response was sort of rude “heck no I am not ok.” I thought that was a dumb question at the time. This is what I would of asked as well but I did not want to hear that. I got up and had to calm down a minute. I got in the crew vehicle and followed for a but until the stinging got better. I could not stand it after about 15 minutes and asked if we could go ahead and check my bike out. I wanted to ride. The group was riding over 20 but it looked so slow from behind. I bet my crwew was going nuts at RAAM. They looked slow imagine how I looked. I got back out and on my bike. My hip was working but not feeling to good. I just wanted to get my hill repeats in. We all rode into the canyon and I turned around and did 4 hill repeats. This hill was about 1.5 miles and a 13 percent grade so it was good. I was riding pretty tough and did two out of the saddle and two in the saddle. The most annoying part was the horse flies. The horse flies were getting in all my rubbed spots and eating me. I had road rash on my back, shoulder, knee, and arm. I could not hit them off when I was climbing so I just had to deal with it. I guess my hip was working. When I got off the bike and took a shower…..it did look like I had a boob on my hip. I showed it to my sponsor. NiteRider tommy advised me not to do anymore mountain biking. I got my last hematoma around him. He must be the prob. I hobbled around the rest of the night but did get up and do some hill repeats the next morning. It did hurt and I do still have it.
I am alive!!!!! I did not finish the race across the alps. It was interesting. i have learned lots of lessons about RATA and willl be back to do it in a couple of years. I started out with some pants that were tooo big and they were coming off of me the first climb that had at least 30 switch backs. I would ride and stop so that my crew could pull my pants back up this was entertaning. I crashed on teh second downhill right on my hematoma but got right back on the bike, i discovered that my jackets that i thought were not rain jackets and rode through the night wet. I rode up the steppest hill popping wheely’s and spinning out but i made it. My braks wore out and the downhills were tooooo slow especially after my crash. We got lost as well to make for more adventure. I quit at 19 hours but knew long before taht i was not going to be an official finisher. i could of rode the rest but i did want to be official. I feel like i rode thought most the tough stuff with rain and snow but made the right decision in not finishing. i ahve lots of ultra races to do this year. RAce across the alps was going to hurt my next two races but it would of been worth it to be official. I was not going to be official and figured i could finish the rst of my season strong. My leg is not any worse and i am glad to be alive. The crash was on the second downhill on a right hair pin turn. i did not have my back brakes at the time so i am lucky i did not run off the cliff. i had a great time with my crew. i thought the cut off was 34 hours and came to find out it was 32. I knew there was no room for error going into the race and we had too many of them. the worst one was discovering my rain jacket was not really a rain jacket. i have a race report on my computer and will try to post in in Switzerland on Friday or so.
Back in action- donna and i are back in Germany and getting stuffed like pigs here. I am back in full training. Yesterday I swam 5000 meters in a cold outdoor pool. i found out last night that a wetstuit is advised…..ooops. last night i did 2×3000s under a 6:50 pace and then a 1500 at a 5:45. Ulli took me out for a little run and surprised me with this. i did not think i could do it but my legs and body felt ok. i do feel my hematoma and my back from the crash but i have had worse days. i am in good spirits and am in hopes of surviving the gigathlon. my fear is another fall on my side but i bought a pillow to stuffdown my extra large pants on my hematoma for the gigathlon. Georgio will be doing the skate segments and mountain biking with me so i am hoping he will save me.
super star-i am at ullis school now and spoke to the children. I had to have an intereptor but it went very well hanging out with the kids. In Austria i had people wanting autographes and even though i did not finish the race i was still on the front page of the paper…..how you do this is greet the first place finisher. The race treated me like a super star and gave me lots of respect for my other accomplishments. Sure i do wish i finished the race but i know i will be back. Most of my fist races are learning and then i go back and do them better. Race Across America, Le Tour Ultime, and the 508 were all bad the frist time but i used them as learning experiences and went backt to do them right the second time. I am taking RATA as a learning experience. I had a great time and great crew. Markus was amazing and so was Donna. We had fun. i just was not riding so well after my crash. The chicken blood was pumping through my veins and should of been. My leg has some of the bruising coming back. This fall was not good for me mentally at the race. i am not to tore up from the race otherwise so the rest of my season should be good if i survive the gigathlon. Keep in mind the gigathlon is for training for the one that is 7 days in 2013 so i dont plan this to be fast. My big races are later this season.
Last night i slept like a baby. i bet i almost blew the roof off with snoring. This morning i woke up and had the house to myself. I unpacked my bike and enjoyed some quite time. i was feeling sleepy but i bet it was because it was still night time in my normal time zone. I decided to do a short run and not get to far from the house. I was hoping that Uille and I would ride when he got off work.
I took off from the house and ended up on a dead end in about 3 minutes after climbing a big hill. i went another direction and hit another dead end. There are about 5 ways zou can go from Ullis house. The third way was a score. I was really enjoying my run. I took one turn about 15 minuutes into my run and took note of my landmark…a brown house. I got to a town when i planned on turning around. i wanted to go further into town and check it out but i did not want to tire my legs out either. I turned around and started back home turning at my brown house. I got to a slit in the road and it was not obvious on which way to go. I must of taken the wrong way and ran over a bunch of hills to the wrong place. i decided to back track to my brown house and start over. I saw a kid outside and asked him if he spoke English. He looked at me funny so i am assuming not. It started to rain and i spotted a shed to get under. i got under it for about 5 minutes and then decided i had better get going. i ran in the rain almost back to the brown house but then saw another road i might have missed that could have gone to Ulli’s . After 15 minutes of running i knew it was not the road either. I was starting to figure out i might be lost. I decided to eliminate roads one by one. I was already at 1hour and 40 minutes. I ran into a forest and knew it was the wrong raod but it started raining hard. I stayed in the woods for a few minutes and then flagged a car down. He stopped. i hated to surrender and stop running but i was at almost 2 hours and that was going to be a little too much for my legs before Race Across the Alps. The guy hardly spoke any english. I started to understand that he did not kow what the word “close” meant. Anytime i saw something I thought was familiar i figured out saying “near” was something he would comprehend. We drove around and i saw a soccor field i thought looked familiar. He said there were two soccor fields so it might not of been it. I gave up. I did not have Ulli’s address or phone number. The guy that picked me up drove to his house to look it up in the phone book. It was now almost 330 and i left the house at 1230. Ulli was supposed to be home. i was actaully enjoying my adventure. i knew that Ulli and I did not have to be anywhere until 730. i was just worried that i might be worrying Ulli not being home with it pouring down cats and dogs. i was really glad taht i was alone making this mistake so i would not have to listen to someone else bitching. The guy asked me what town Ulli lived in. i had no idea. He left me in the car and looked up the number. He came back and had gotten a hold of Ulli. Ulli was coming to get me. I was happy. The guy sat in teh car to wait with me. i tried to make conversation and he could not understand me. He chose to wait outside in teh rain looking for Ulli..as if he wanted to get rid of me. Ulli pulled up and was all smiles. I figured he was getting a good laugh out of this….who could get lost on a run? He had a towel and jacket for me. He told me that when the guy called him he asked what he was doing letting his girlfriend run around naked. He also mentioned that we had paths to run on. Last but not least he said i was half naked in the rain. I had on bike shorts and a tank top…..i would not call that naked. He was nice to me and him and Ulli exchanged laughs and kind German words. Ulli got in teh car and asked how i got where I was…..i was on the other side of town from where he lived. I must of really been lost. My dad is probably freaking out reading this but i am in good hands now. i think i am going to check and see if Garmon wont become a sponsor. I dont need something to track the miles. I need something to track where I go.
I took a long shower at Ullis but it was not hot enough. i can handle really hot water at home. I was not thawing out in the shower so I got out and put on all my warm clothing and jumped under a down comforter. I was going to work on my computer but my hands were to cold. i decided sitting indian style with my hands under my butt would warm them up. Ulli went for a run and then it was time for us to come up to his school. He is a principle (spelled that wrong i am sure) here. His kids are having a play and a concert tonight. My crew member Markus is going to come and watch it with me tonight and we are going to dinner. I am in Ullis office now on his computer. That would explain why the Ö in my title lost is there. The keyboards are slighty different here. The z is where the y is supposed to be and the simbols are different. Ulli does not have internet at home so this could be my last blog until after the race.
Tomorrow Markus and I will be picking Donna up and going to Austria. The weather predicting rain. i dont think i have seem rain except on my races I most care about. I am not sure if i can stay warm but i need to. I wonder if i have the right clothing. Zoot mailed som great warm stuff but i am not sure that it will work in rain like i was in today. I am nervous and sometimes question why I do these things and how. I get butterflies in my stomach thinking about the race but I am going anyway. i am not driving so there wont be any need to worry about me getting lost. time to go watch the kids
I am in DFW airport now, the person next to me on my last flight did not tell me i had a booger in my nose. I found out when i went to the restroom just a minute ago. Here is what i wrote on the plane . I should be getting back to blogging about more stories and races now. I have just been busy with house stuff but i am getting more organized. i will be working on my book while i am gone too. My flight is boarding and as usual i am the last one on the plane. Wish me luck.
Europe
I am on the plane now headed to Dallas and then off to Europe. My life has been crazy for some time and it is nice to finally be sitting and resting. I love airports and flying. Once you are past security there is nothing else to be done other then looking at smut magazines (star and us weekly) and eating junk. I bet not many people get a kick out of hanging out at an airport but I don’t since I raraly sit. I was pestering security about trying on my underwear and giving me a pat down. They are not so used to people bugging them.
What are the travel plans?? I am flying into Dusseldorf by way of London. I willl be picked up by my friend Ulli to stay at his house. He is a friend from ultraman. He is a high school principle so I will be talking to his kids at the school and doing some motivational speaking if I can. My cousin Donna flies in on Wednesday just before we leave town. I have two crew members that Ulli knew that are going to be helping me at the race across the alps. We will leave around 1pm on Wednesday to go to Nauders, Austria. The race starts at noon on Friday. I wished that it started earlier. I think it is 580km so roughly 336 miles over 7 huge mountains with some little ones in between. I am the only girl. Only one woman has finished the race before and she was from Austrailia. That was years ago. My goal is to be the second girl to finish it and the first American to win it…that sounds more cool huh? My crew are triathletes and one of them is signed up for ultraman….Markus…..the other crew members name is unknown but I will make sure to get it. I have no idea what the rules are at this race. I might not be able to have my crew behind me at all times…who knows? The weather will be colder then I prefer. I am a desert girl so this race is going to be tough on me since I hate rain and cold. I have arthritis that does bother me in these conditions but I can hang. I plan to ride to the tops and then change before each downhill. I cant afford to get to cold…this is something that Will slow me down. The time cut off is 34 hours so my goal is to do better than that. I am still injured and have this lump on my hip but I don t think that is what will hold me back or slow me down. What will is pouring cold rain. After the race my crew and I will go back to Dusseldorf, Germany. I have a friend named Thomas Ratchcomb (spelled that wrong) that will take my bike back to Switzerland so I don’t have to fly with it again. He is a fast guy so I hope he waits for me to get done. Donna and I will stay in Germany until the following Friday June 26th. We will fly into Zurich around 10 and Dirk will pick us up. From the airport I am going to Kloten to pick up a mountain bike from a bike shop. My friend Peter Muller from ultraman organized the free bike I will get to use. We will then go with Dirk to another place outside of Zurich. I am really not sure where it …it might be in Neiderman…..i spelled that wrong. Donna and I will stay with a terrific family for the week until it is time to go to St.Gallen for the race. This family cooks great food and it is really what I am looking forward the most. The races are great but meeting people is what I love most. At the gigathlon we will camp. Donna and Dirk are my crew. Georgio is a friend of mine that is racing. It us just a race for fun….i think. Right after the race Donna and I come home so I will be gone just over 3 weeks. I am looking forward to it. I am a little scared but who woulnt be. My hematoma makes me a little nervous but I am in hopes it will be ok.
