Canada, Day 1 & 2

We're here!So it's been a whirlwind of events lately -- from a funeral to bridal shower and lots in between -- thus the emotions have been all over the place. That can be energy-zapping as you an imagine. But I can finally sigh with relief. I'm here in Canada with people I love getting ready to do the most epic thing I've ever done. Surprisingly, it's very easy for me to put my feet up and relax right now even with Sunday's 140.6 looming. I'm not nervous yet, and am pretty calm about the whole situation -- one of the reasons why I wanted to get here so early. Actually, I did get a wave of emotion and nerves when I drove by the athlete check-in today in P-town. After being to enough Ironmans as a spectator, it's weird to finally be on the other side as a participant, it feels good :) I like that P-town even has an Ironman wine for us :)

Anyways, Monday was a long day of travel. We left Orange County at 7ish, flew out of LAX at 10 and got to Seattle just after noon. It was raining. Surprise. From Seattle, we picked up a rental mini van, grabbed lunch at an all-you-can-eat salad/soup buffet place with all the fixins. We all stocked up on food as who know when we'd eat again. I even got one of these, which I haven't had in this form for ages....

Then we hit the road for a long drive. Thank goodness John was at the wheel so my mom, sis and I could just chill. The weather was pretty bad for a long time, well into Canada, as you can see.Btw, my dad was not going to be able to make it out in light of my grandma's death and how much work he's missed. That made me pretty sad, but I understood. Yet, I think when he saw me cry when he told me that news, he knew he'd have to pull some strings, and low and behold, he will still be coming out for the race... he gets into town this weekend :)

Once we crossed the Canadian border, the "eh" jokes began and they have yet to stop. They just don't get old. I picked up a crossword puzzle at a McDOnald's on a pee stop so we'd have something to occupy our time. I vaguely recall us joking about "who would eat at McDonald's." It hink the "Mickey-D" gods were listening on that convo (read on).

On the crossword puzzle, I found something where you say, "what are the freaking odds?!" In this case, it was my grandpa as 23 down....

I'm not gonna lie. It was a long drive, and although it was beautiful, I think I would have preferred to fly into Canada. Way back when we made the itinerary, we determined it'd be cheaper to do the fly/drive combo, but by how much I don't know? Next time, I'd probably dish out a few extra bucks for a more direct flight.

That said, it really wasn't that bad, it was just getting late and we were all tired and ready to eat and chill for the night. We arrived in Summerland (where we're staying, just 10 miles north of P-town) just after 9 p.m. And that was with a race car driver at the wheel so it's not like we were going at a snail's pace ;)

Our main thought at that point: GET FOOD. I had heard rumors that places close early here, and oh my is that true! We got into our house that we rented and immediately started reseraching where we could go. Long story short, EVERYTHING was closed, even grocery stores and our last hope was either Tim Horton's or McDOnald's. We decided to do authentic Canadian so went to Time Horton's, but they were closed too!! Ugh! Mickey D's it was! In truth, McDonald's has a pretty decent menu these days, and we were all fine with our orders of salads and sandwiches. (Although, I think anything would have been better than nothing at that point, which was the next option after MD's).

Today we awoke to our beautiful surroundings. Man, this place is gorgeous! Our house is up on a hill in Summerland... it's surrounded by apple trees and wineries, very peaceful, small and quaint with a big yard. We don't need anything more, anything less. Just want to keep it low key. Today we checked out Penticton Fun times. Ended that trip with some grocery shopping... first to Whole Foods, of course, then to a Costco-style place, which was actually really decent! After that I napped and worked. I will continue working this week because it has get done (especially my next article for 3/GO Magazine), but I'll be sure to take full advantage of this place while we're here. And I want to document this trip well, so tune in a lot this week with updates! How about a few pics....

Made brekkie this morning with oats, egg scramble, fruit (not seen) and of course Canadian bacon, eh?Part of the view from our yard. (Pre-race BBQ on Saturday!!!!)The breakfast nook. Small and quaint.

Last but not least, I was saving the "bad" news for last. My shoulder is not good. It hasn't been for weeks now. There's nothing much more I can do at this point rather than just tough it out on race day. I'm ok with that and I am confident that I will cross that finish line. That said, I've come to terms with my swim goals, and I'm realistically expecting to do it in 85-90 min. Not ideal, but I'm pretty sure I can pull that off. I'll let you know the rest of my race goals soon....