All Downhill From Here

I know this is getting long, but I think I’m writing this as much for my own memories as for you, so pardon if I bore you with my rambling.

Day 3: Friday

I forgot to tell you about our extra roommate, Ellie. We were delighted to have her stay with us – she’s sort of from Maryland, but lives a nomadic lifestyle in a motorhome now. She took our messy room and snoring all in style, and we felt like we’d adopted another sister-friend into our team.

I slept a little better Thursday night than I had the previous night, but was still a little dopey. A breakfast buffet was included with our room rate and I was very happy to dig into a bowl of oatmeal and a plate of scrambled eggs, fruit and yogurt. There were lots of Penguins down for breakfast and I had a hard time staying at one table – I wanted to be with them all at once!

After breakfast we attended a few workshops held in a conference room at the adjoining hotel. First a yogi led us in a yoga session for beginners. I had never done yoga in a real, live class before, and it was much more fun than doing it alone at home in front of a video (I tried it once about 6 years ago). The yogi led us through some very simple stretches and some specifically good for runners. As the poses progressed in difficulty I was able to modify most of them for when my body refused to completely cooperate. I felt very relaxed by the end, and all my kinks and brain-fuzziness from the poor sleep had gone. I will try this at home! I think my daughter might enjoy doing yoga with me, too.

After the yoga we had some discussion sessions on trail racing – I had brought my Yaktrax for everyone to see, diet and weightloss, weight training, etc. Then Linae from St. Petersburg gave a talk on triathlons. We learned about equipment like seal masks and tri bikes, and lots of other encouraging stuff about what to be aware of in your first tri. At the end of the Triathlon workshop there was a draw for a doorprize and I won a full triathlon training plan by Coach Ken Johnson! Lucky me!

Why do I feel a need to go swimming?

When I later looked at the detailed questions and realized that I wouldn’t be able to do this fantastic program justice in the next year or two, I passed the program on to Ellie, who’s looking at her first Ironman soon.

After the morning workshops we walked to the convention center (about a kilometer away) where the Race Expo was, to pick up our packages. Dianne and Dawn were stubbornly wearing shorts, despite the cold breeze and overcast skies. I was chilly enough to borrow Dianne’s gloves which had been lurking in her jacket pocket. As we approached the convention center, one guy with a Gasparilla race bag gave Dawn a once-over and exclaimed “What, you think you’re in FLORIDA!”

We poked around the Expo and popped in to see Karen Bingham at her booth and John Bingham at his. I found some Defeet socks with penguins on them and they just had to come home with me.

As I was standing in line to pick up my race package for the 15 k, Dianne sidled over with an evil grin and said, in her best airplane-desk-paging voice “Mrs. Cooksley, Mrs. Cooksley, you’ve been upgraded to the Marathon.”

!!!! Apparently the fleeting look of shock on my face was hilarious.

We ate lunch and headed back to the hotel for a quick swim before getting ready for supper. The streets had been cleared and blocked off on our way back, as President Bush was in town to give a speech and his cavalcade would be coming right past our hotel. We saw the limosines, vans and other assorted official vehicles go by from our hotel window.

We went over to the hospitality suite for pizza, spaghetti and meatballs. I had a Southpaw beer and a glass of Little Penguin merlot. No going overboard, I had a race the next day. Just as dessert was coming out, the fire alarm went off. I announced to the room “Quick, grab the chocolate and head for the stairs!” Someone on the 4th floor had apparently tripped a smoke alarm with some bad cooking.

We turned in early again, this time I had a race number pinned to my shirt and a chip on my shoe.