Lake Placid!

Tuesday afternoon, Joey and I started our journey north. The car was all packed up with race gear, suitcases, bikes, and a portable DVD player and movies. I was a little worried that since we weren't leaving town until 4pm that we would hit serious traffic around Baltimore. Luckily, the worst of the traffic cleared up and we flew up 95, making it into Lansdale, PA (outside Philly) in under 5 hours. We stayed with the Kraynaks, whom we had not seen in almost 3 years. It was nice to catch up with them and their growing family! Joey was able to get some good running around/play time with the boys on Wednesday morning. While it was very tempting to stick around and play all day, I was anxious to hit the road! Joey was such a trooper in the car, considering day 2 of the drive took over 6 hours. He only asked ONCE if we were there yet, and that was just a short 45 minutes outside of Placid.

I was releived to see that the worst portion of the descent into Keene had been repaved, and tried to point out landmarks to Joey as we pulled into town. I don't think he quite believed me when I told him that people on skis actually launch themselves off the jumps! We were both very happy to be done with the car ride, and were greeted at the house by Dr. Rick, Amy, and Lynn.

The house we are staying in was built in 1917 and recently completely remodeled. Joe and I have a bedroom with a sleeping porch just off it--Joey has slept out there several nights already. Every detail in the house is so well thought-out and executed. It is GORGEOUS!

Wednesday evening, a group of us met up for our first jog around the lake. It felt good to stretch the legs--Lynn kept up with the speed demons while I took my "leisurely 45 min run" workout to heart. While Joey explored the house's toys, the rest of us hit the grocery store and tried to buy them out of bananas. Soon after a good dinner of spaghetti/salad/bread, it was time to hit the sack.

Thursday morning, I was up with the smell of coffee (can I just say how wonderful it is to wake up to a full pot of freshly brewed coffee?!) and soon headed out with the Ricks for an early morning swim. The lake temperature is pretty nice--a refreshing 70 degrees--so it's warm enough that your hands and feet don't freeze, but cool enough that you don't work up a sweat. Just after we started our loop of the course, Karen, Shawn, and Shelley started their swim. Blake took this cool picture from the dock:


Later that morning, Karen, Shawn, Amy and I headed out on our bikes. We took the route out of town along the bike course--down those short, steep hills with sharp turns from transition. If I survive that, I'm doing pretty well! I had missed my chance to do the Keene descent with Bethany and Deanna since I swam early. Instead, the rest of us rode out the run route, then climbed the Cherries and Bears and Bastard back into town. By the time we were done and all cleaned up, it was time to hit the town for some lunch and a little souvenir shopping. Joey was all about the shopping, except when it was time to hit the expo and athlete check in. Apparently triathlon and Ironman stuff is not cool, but he did score a new hat that says "Support Crew" on the back.



That evening, Amy made a great dinner of steak and mashed potatoes, and after a quick visit with the folks from Mountain Ash, it was time for sleep! Friday morning was a little more of the same: morning swim, followed by a quick run around the lake. It was sunny and warmer, so Joey and I packed a picnic lunch and headed to the lake. It wasn't quite the relaxing interlude I was expecting--they were hosting the kid's fun run at the same time and it was packed with Ironman families. Maybe I'm biased, but in comparison to my pretty well-behaved kids, there are some real brats out there. (Little kids that just whine/cry at what they can't have or do, kids that kick and throw sand, kids that swim around growling saying they're an "ocean monstow".) So we ended up coming back to the house, and I had a much more pleasant nap on the sleeping porch!

Today it's time to pick up the husband at the airport, ride the descent into Keene (coach Karen insists I must do this), and then check in my transition bags and bike. I make dinner tonight--broiled salmon, brown rice, green beans. My friend Heidi will also get here around dinner!!! Yey!