I’m ready for the “big dance” to start. It’s not that I’m sick of training, and I know in that the last six weeks we all go through lots of different emotions like “Why in the world did I sign up for this race?” or “I wish I had trained a little bit harder a little bit earlier”, or “I’m so sick of training I just want to get it over with”. But none of those have crossed my mind.

I told Gary Ivinskas, when he brought me a house warming gift of 6 Labatts Blue and, yes, we did sample them, that I get angry sometimes when I think that the bike wreck screwed me out of the fun. Yes, 14 or 15 hours of all out physical effort is fun, but it’s more than that. It’s the fun of riding through Verona at the halfway point on the bike when thousands of people are cheering you on. It’s the fun of riding up the toughest hill with a guy dressed like the devil chasing you. It’s the fun of going up a tough hill with crowds lining the bike path like you see on the Tour de France. It’s the fun of running with several different people over the 26.2 miles and talking about everything and anything. It’s the fun of crossing the finish line with your friends there waiting and talking non-stop about all the things that happened to you and to others in your view of the race.

So that’s what I’m looking forward to. I’m not going to win my age division unless all of the other guys get a last minute stomach virus and, even then, they would probably beat me. I’m not going to qualify for Kona, ever. But the fun is the race. To me, these other things are all secondary and not very important.

Becky, Jenifer, Len and Elaine all came out Friday evening to see the cottage and talk. It’s great to have friends around. Bill and Nancy didn’t stop by since they are on a short camping vacation on the Leelanau Peninsula. I think the real reason they left town is so Bill didn’t make the Sunday e-mail with one of his off-the-wall quips.

Len and Elaine talked about their recent trip to the finger lakes region of New York. They had a wonderful time and left late in the afternoon to come home. They hadn’t made reservations anywhere so they drove on to Hamilton, Ontario where they found a motel. Elaine says they should have known they shouldn’t stay there when they didn’t see any cars. They got up to their room and thought they would watch TV for a few minutes before going to sleep. They tried all the channels, but the only one that came in at all was channel 22. Len said, and I quote, “Look hon, they’re doing what we used to do”. It was a porn channel. Our guess is that the rooms rented by the hour and the first shift had already left.

So my thoughts went directly to Bill and Nancy when they drove back from Lake Placid. Bill says they got off the expressway and stayed in Hamilton, Ontario for the night. Bill’s comment to me was, and again I quote, “The motel was a little more expensive than I had planned, but it was worth every penny”. I won’t say he ever mentioned channel 22, but we all know my memory still needs a little work, so I’m not saying he didn’t. You be the judge.

This weekend is the longest training weekend of the whole 24 weeks, or is it next weekend? The long ride yesterday was supposed to be between 5 and 6 hours followed by a 50-60 minute run. My ride was 6:15 and I felt great other than a sore butt and a really sore big toe. My legs felt fresh when I started running, but at 21 minutes I got a little light-headed so I stopped and walked. I started feeling better and ran the last 10  minutes home but had a bad headache afterwards. I’ve been having headaches after hard workouts, but the doctor says that may be from the accident still, so we will be keeping an eye on them. I’ve learned to listen to my body and stop training when something unusual happens other than just being tired.

Today’s run was 140 minutes this morning and another 40 minutes late this afternoon. By splitting the long run day, you can get the long miles in but you leave enough time in the middle for the body to recover some. I’m not looking forward to that last 40 minutes but it’s part of the training and I’ll have all winter to rest.

By the way, I’ve decided to go to Kona with Jean. I thought about it a lot on the ride yesterday and I think it’s more important to be there to support Jean than to worry about my difficulty in watching her race. I’ve taken some good advice. Thanks, Jen.

Just (On The Road Again) Jack