It’s Friday and I’ve had a busy week. Erin arrived Tuesday evening and I went to the airport with Brigitte to pick her up. No luggage for her, of course! Luckily, she got the luggage the next morning, which was a nice surprise! We headed to the lake Wednesday and both went for a run. I did some “intervals” to wake my body up! It was tough to mix in the fast stuff, but necessary, as I know. Once we were finished we “iced” our legs in the lake and chilled out. Nothing else for me to do that day, so we headed into Klagenfurt and had some lunch, checked out the city (took pictures with the Lindwurm, which is the turn around on the run course) and visited the bike shop “Mountainbiker”.Thursday
was a full day. I woke up early and headed out for a bike as Erin headed out on her run. The bike paths all over the city here are awesome and everyone seems to bike to work. On my way out I passed a woman dressed up in a beautiful dress and high heels, pocket book strapped onto the back of the bike, biking to work! Once I found some open road I did a hard effort to open the legs up a bit. Tough in the beginning, but it felt better as the effort went on which is what I was looking for! We headed to the lake after that and I got a massage at the expo. After the much needed massage I registered for the race! I love doing a race in a different country. Things are just a bit different and it feels like a new experience, which adds to the excitement! After checking out the Expo Erin and I headed out to the lake for a swim. Erin does a lot of open water swimming (including being part of a relay for a double crossing of the English Channel!), so it was great practice for me to try and stay on her feet! We swam for 25 min, then laid out on the dock (or “bridge” as they call it here) and enjoyed the beautiful weather.Thursday was the last day that I wanted to head out for any “sightseeing”, so we decided t
o visit a castle nearby. Burg Hochorsterwitz is a castle perched upon a hill that overlooks the valley below. The castle was apparently the inspiration to the castle in Walt Disney’s “Snow White” and you can see why. It’s pretty remarkable looking and incredible to think that people actually lived there! Since I am resting for the race, Erin and I opted for the lift up instead of the walk up to the castle. Bad decision! I’m not afraid of heights, but this lift didn’t seem like the sturdiest piece of machinery. As we were lifted up almost vertically I checked out the chain that was holding us up. It didn’t look nearly as thick as it should have! I imagined us plummeting down. I thought, “if we fall, we probably won’t die from the impact because we are in this compartment…instead we’ll just be badly injured and stuck inside this HOT small elevator...Yikes!) Needless to say, we were grateful when the trip up was over! The castle was impressive, but as you can see in the picture probably more so from far away. We took the lift down after walking the grounds and some of the rooms and headed back to Klagenfurt.
o visit a castle nearby. Burg Hochorsterwitz is a castle perched upon a hill that overlooks the valley below. The castle was apparently the inspiration to the castle in Walt Disney’s “Snow White” and you can see why. It’s pretty remarkable looking and incredible to think that people actually lived there! Since I am resting for the race, Erin and I opted for the lift up instead of the walk up to the castle. Bad decision! I’m not afraid of heights, but this lift didn’t seem like the sturdiest piece of machinery. As we were lifted up almost vertically I checked out the chain that was holding us up. It didn’t look nearly as thick as it should have! I imagined us plummeting down. I thought, “if we fall, we probably won’t die from the impact because we are in this compartment…instead we’ll just be badly injured and stuck inside this HOT small elevator...Yikes!) Needless to say, we were grateful when the trip up was over! The castle was impressive, but as you can see in the picture probably more so from far away. We took the lift down after walking the grounds and some of the rooms and headed back to Klagenfurt.Last 
night the family that has taken such good care of me had us over for dinner. It was spectacular! An aperitif to start, then Pumpkin and Zucchini soup, pork Wellington (Brigitte made Erin a special vegetarian wellington), vegetables and for dessert a fruit salad with a bit of white chocolate mousse on the side. We had a wonderful dinner filled with laughs. The family will be headed down to the race on Sunday and Michael, the son, will be volunteering for the race! They have been so generous to us and I can’t say enough of how wonderful they all are.
night the family that has taken such good care of me had us over for dinner. It was spectacular! An aperitif to start, then Pumpkin and Zucchini soup, pork Wellington (Brigitte made Erin a special vegetarian wellington), vegetables and for dessert a fruit salad with a bit of white chocolate mousse on the side. We had a wonderful dinner filled with laughs. The family will be headed down to the race on Sunday and Michael, the son, will be volunteering for the race! They have been so generous to us and I can’t say enough of how wonderful they all are. So, today I head to the Pro meeting, which always gets me a bit nervous. I will take the day off from training today, except for a possible “swim” in the lake sans wetsuit, mostly to “ice” down the body and chill out. The lake is 20 degrees Celsius, which is about 70 degrees Fahrenheit, so I say “ice the body”, but it isn’t cold enough to really ice it! It feels chilly without a wetsuit, though and perfect with a wetsuit! Tonight is the pasta party, which I don’t always attend, but will definitely be attending here. Like I said, being in a different country racing almost feels like doing my first Ironman again and I’m trying to experience everything that is here! Two days to go till race day and I’m psyched and ready!
I just wanted to thank everyone who has been so kind sending me e-mails of good luck, and messages wishing me well. It is so wonderful to have such great support from home and from the many other places that I have met wonderful people through triathlon. Thanks so much! it really means a lot to me!
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