SEPTEMBER 11: All Quiet on the Eastern Front

I usually take off the day two days before a race, and then start ramping it up the day before. We are less than 24 hours away from the start of the 2009 ITU World Triathlon Championships in Gold Coast, Australia, and the day before is a chance to check equipment, loosen up legs and arms, and try hard not to look at the competition, no matter how lean/tan/fast they look.

We started today with a quick warm-up on the bike, and a swim of about half the course, then grabbed some crepes as we watched the World Junior (under 23) Triathlon Championships. It was a good motivator with watch these youngsters rip through the same course we amateurs will navigate tomorrow. They are faster, more precise, and a lot less wrinkled. We are smug only in the knowledge that we have steady incomes. They race for food.

I had a final test of my previously-injured leg along the beach; everything feels fine, and I'm ready for "a rippah." We turned in our bikes to the transition area (quite a site to see 2500 carbon-fiber 401k's all lined up and ready to be stolen by an enterprising gang of GC youths - don't laugh, it has happened) and headed to the hotel to rest, and to stress out, and in my case sit down and write this salvo while having a Pure Blonde (relax, it's a lager) and listening to the surf of the eastern Pacific while my dad takes his third nap of the day.

This journey started a year ago at Nationals, where I miraculously qualified, and was put into full forward motion by Youth Homes Development Director Ramey Kodadek. She, and her cause, are the reasons I am here. I am proud to race for the US, but in my heart I am racing for a group of kids who only want the stability of a home, if only for a night. It is a worthy cause, and it gives needed meaning to the selfish pursuits of training and travel and competition.

So I have a few people to thank, on the eve of the race. Thank you, Ramey, for the inspiration to do this, and for organizing the fundraising, publicity, and awareness. Thanks to my family for putting up with missed dinners and general lack of attention from me over the past few months while I prepared. Thanks to Tony Schiller, John Humble, Christoff, Team Stampede, and Red Barn Bicycles for coaching, training, and outfitting me for the race. Thanks to Nate, and my dad Jim, for travelling and racing with me, and to my small circle of new and old friends (you know who you are) who have been supportive, patient, understanding, and enthusiastic, even if you didn't know what a triathlon was.

Most of all, thank you to you, dear reader, who has kept up with my ramblings, and put your wallet (and heart) on the line for Youth Homes. Your support means the world to me, and those kids.

OK, time for a last supper (not really) and the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Or something equally stirring. I'm open for suggestions...

Next update will be from the finish line, or the medical tent.

Cheers,

Jeremy

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