Man, I’m no coach but
that just didn’t seem prudent. Tomorrow if she has a great
race I’ll name her and promise to keep my mouth shut with
the training tips!
The only thing Pete asked
me to do today was pick him up after dropping off his bike
and bag down at the hotel. I was to be there at 2:20. It’s
about a five minute drive from the house. I wanted to be
safe so I left with 10 minutes in the bank. That turned out
to be a bit of a rookie maneuver. Alii drive was absolutely
bumper to bumper with traffic about a mile from the hotel.
They had shut down the road to set up the finishing chute.
I had to take the van off road for a few hundred meters (my
apologies to the old guy in the yellow shorts) and skirt the
barrier. A well intentioned young man tried to stop me but
I simply flashed my green wrist band and hit the throttle.
In my rear view mirror I could see him yelling something. I
assumed it was “Go man, go!!”
As I rolled in front of
the hotel Pete was coming out. I say the gods our on our
side this year!
We’re going to do some
more Ahi Tuna tonight and another salad. I expect to lose
about 6 pounds on this trip. As you can see by the
underpants run photo, that won’t cause any hardships.
I must admit, I’m getting
nervous. This race is big. I’ve done Penticton twice and
it’s a great race with a long history but it pales next to
Hawaii. Pete seems calm but I know the fire is starting to
glow. He’s thinking about the race. He’s thinking a lot
about it. He’s going though his mind and he’s answering all
the questions that are going to pop up tomorrow – all the
questions about why he’s out there. He’s answering them now
so when they come up tomorrow he won’t be searching for an
answer.
During this week I’ve had
the pleasure to meet some of the other fellows who believe
they can win this race. They seem like a nice bunch. I
feel sorry for them. It’s just not their year.
Late Entry:
It’s 8:10 PM and everyone
has gone to bed. This will probably be my last entry before
Pete crosses the finish line tomorrow afternoon.
Tonight was a pleasant
evening by any standard. We had a great dinner and followed
with Pete and I enjoying a beer, while Dave and Petra had a
glass of wine. We had a toast to a successful day and then
Dave and Pete regaled us with tales of their wayward youth.
We watched an episode of
Millennium and Pete, without ceremony, went to bed.
It’s been my pleasure
having a bit of fun with these journal entries. Thank you
all for reading them.
Everyone put out a good
thought for the guy tomorrow. I believe he’s going to do
something special.
