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October 12,
2005:
Wednesday has come and just about gone. Pete’s brother
Dave and his wife Petra are expected to come through the
door any minute now. I can’t seem to stop sweating so
this meeting should be fun for them. I think I’ll pass
on the hug.
 We had a
busy day. Swimming in the AM at the pier before the
maddening crowd arrived. Then it was off to get Pete
registered. That went off without a hitch. We got free
stuff. Pete gets lots of free stuff. I guess if you
consider the hours he’s put on the road and in the pool,
it’s not really that free.
Pete had
an hour plus bike ride planned to be followed by an easy 20
minute run. Luckily I didn’t bring my bike so I took the
opportunity to jump on an old mountain bike that comes with
the rental of this house and booked it into town where I
checked out the expo and then went to the trendy coffee spot
Lava Java to do a little scribbling. Many of the big dogs
were there. I was surprised to see some of them drinking
coffee three days out from the race. They obviously haven’t
been apprised of the Kenyan method of coffee loading. Last
year’s champ Norm Stadler was there as well as perennial
hopeful, Chris McCormack.
After a
few hours I figured it was safe to go back to the house. By
safe I’m mean to say that Pete will have done his transition
run and I won’t have to embarrass myself by floundering
along with him.
There’s
no one home when I get there. I figure he’s probably out
there already. But minutes after arriving I hear the screen
door shut and the horrifying sound of cleats clicking on the
floor.
He
breaks out in a smile when he sees me.
I make
it through the twenty minutes. If there’s one thing I can
say about Pete, when he says he’s running slow – he runs
slow. Now for me it was near race pace, but by most human
standards, it was slow running.
Pete
tells me he’s been doing less than he has in years past.
I’ve got a feeling he won’t regret it come Saturday.
After
the run we went to an Autograph session but first we stopped
by and visited Greg Welch who is now working with Oakley.
Greg laid some new product on Pete – some very nice stuff!!
The
autograph signing went well but holy mackerel did a ton of
people show up! The line up was fifty deep the entire hour
that he sat there. They all want to shake his hand. I’m
thinking it’s a great way to build up immunity to every germ
out there – but Pete’s a sport and signs until his agent,
and friend, Murphy finally put a stop to it. We sprinted
out the back door and slinked back to the van.
Tomorrow
is another day of meetings and interviews. |
