All the Details Are Done...

...now its time to kick back and wait.

Steve and I got to The Woodlands yesterday afternoon and went straight to Expo. The check in line was HUGE, which I had guessed it would be since it was the last day of check-in and most "Texans" would enjoy the fact that it was a "back yard" event and didn't need to get there on Wednesday. After waiting in line we strolled through expo and then headed to the hotel to unpack and unwind.

We opted out on the "mandatory" athlete's meeting and went to have dinner with friends who live down here. Pei Wei filled us up, and as it always does, brings back memories of a dear friend.

After a "disrupted" night's sleep (because the A/C was on "auto" and not "on" it shook the walls every time it came "on" - an ongoing battle for Steve and I when we travel ;-) we woke up early and headed downstairs to breakfast and then over to the organized swim practice.

The lake was picturesque with huge mansions along the shoreline and many trails winding around it. The water was AWESOME! Awesome temperature but not visibility. Its certain to be a pile up when we all 2700 of us start the swim at one time in the morning because in this water when your head is down swimming you can't even see YOURSELF! Seriously. The water is like chocolate milk. So lots of sighting and lots of bumping around and swimming on top of each other is expected. Yet another of the true IM experiences!

I got to do my "shake out run" right after I swam. It never felt so good to run. It made me very anticipatory for tomorrow's run to just let my legs flow, my tensions release and finish up the journey. After taking a few pictures of the area, Steve and I headed back to the hotel to pack up my bike and run bags to drop off later. I did a quick 20 minute bike ride and back to the site we headed.

The transition area is gorgeous! Carpet-like grass, beautiful side walks for exit chutes and gorgeous landscaping. The Woodlands really is a lovely area. We'll see how great they handle the event though. Its quite congested with Malls, Central Market, tons of shopping areas, restaurants, parks, hotels, theaters, water taxi's, and much more right in this area. All very exciting for an event, but hard to manage traffic, people and business.

So we're back at the hotel kicking back for a bit. Its about 199% humidity with 30 mile/hour wind gusts, so indoors is a nice place to be. Saving up energy for tomorrow :-)

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