Arriving in PC Beach

My plan was to head out this morning at 5am. I woke up feeling.... not so hot. Not so motivated. Searching for excuses to convince myself this was not a good idea - heading down to Gulf Coast HIM -- alone. I went back and forth rehearsing this conversation in my head: Scared girl: "What if you have an accident? "What if you cannot complete the 56 mile bike ride? You are SOOO not ready or trained for it. You will be hurting so bad by mile 25, you will not see the end in sight" Strong girl: "Get your butt up and get down there. You know you'll be glad. Stop with the pity party. Perfect timing for a get-away. Go. Do not look back. Go." Scared girl put up a good fight. She got in some really really really good punches - had me down a few times... the countdown had began.. Strong girl would jump up. Don't you fold on yourself Holly. A phone call from Bethany at 7:27am - to get me in the right gear & lend an ear...... and I was out the door. :-) Loading up black betty, throwing in the cooler and the suitcase, and making a pit stop for gas - Strong girl aint turning back.

I passed several vehicles headed to the triathlon - sweet bikes loaded up and USAT stickers -- can't be but one place they're headed. There's something neat about feeling the common bond with pure strangers on the interstate. 6 hours of driving and my neck hurts!!! I was on hwy 231 - about 45 miles from my condo and winds were bad. All the sudden I look up and black betty was so tired of the wind that she did a front flip!!! OMG. Yeah - she was on her head (flipped upside down and thrown from the back of the bike rack to the very front and almost completely sideways. Betty???? Good grief! If you're gonna jump ship, give momma some warning! :-/ So I slow way down and pull over to the side of the road - put her back in place - strap her a lot tighter and take off again. 5 min later Betty was gettin jiggy again and had done another front flip. These winds were brutal! I pull over, yet again, and add 2 more bungee cords to tie her down and she decided to give up. No more flips. That made my heart stop!!!!

So I got here and checked in. Very nice, clean condo. Weather was perfect. Beach was beautiful. I had to make 2 trips to get all my bags and bike in the condo. I'm on the 11th floor. I pulled my hair back and went for a 25 min beach walk. It was fantastic. Now it is just all about enjoying the festivities. All the welcoming events and the excitement in the air. And tomorrow is all about picking up race packets, setting up transition, and last but not least - SOAKING IT UP! ON THE BEACH! With a tasty margi & a host of friends! :-)