I was trying to explain to Psycho a few days ago that this is actually quite a big thing for me – it’s about 12 years since I’ve entered a race of any description and whilst I don’t harbour any realistic intentions of winning, I have no intention of making a fool of myself. So I want to do the right thing essentially. I’ve trained hard, I’m generally eating sensibly, I’ve barely had a drink this week (and not much last week – and the intention is to have nothing next week), I’ve even stopped smoking for the run up to the event (next Friday in case you’d forgotten). I want to be as fit and healthy as I can be ! I don’t really have any worries about getting round because I know I can do the three different distances easily enough, and I know I can get off a bike after 20km and run for 5, it’s just all the other little niggly things – getting a puncture is my current worry (as that’s all people seem to talk about over here……still, I didn’t have much to worry about before so it’s nice to have something !). She’s been off running a half-marathon this morning so I’m not altogether sure that she gets it, but at least she’s indulging me – which is nice !
Anyway, enough of that – I did a 1200m sea swim today, in 4 x 300m intervals. I have to do intervals in the sea because it’s quite shallow for a fair way out and then it’s quite dangerous if you go too far out, with tides and speedboats, so consequently you can’t swim all the way around a square, you have to do three sides and then run (or in my case, walk) along the beach to complete the square. You can’t actually swim safely in many places along the beach here as there’s speedboats, and jet skis and jellyfish, and sharks, so it’s generally better to stay in one designated area……….. well, that’s the story I’m using, and I’m sticking to it !
I’m going to run the Marina in the morning, which was 8.4km last time I did it (so I don’t suppose it’s changed much !) and then tomorrow afternoon I will pick up my hire bike to take down to the desert and then race on. I’ll take that out to do about 25km on Sunday night and then start relaxing a little bit and practicing the mechanics of transition (look it up !) and then a rest day on Thursday (as usual) followed by getting up at 4.30 to get to the course, check-in, set-up, warm-up (and probably throw up !) and a scheduled start time of 0715hrs and with a bit of luck and a fair wind, a finish time of less than one and a half hours later – be assured, you will find out soon after I do !
Apart from that, life carries on at its usual pace – last night I borrowed Julian’s Porsche and took a friend to meet the chap who took me to the Grand Prix last week before he flies out. He was meeting his friends and wives etc. in a bar in one of the poshest hotels in Dubai – the Address Downtown. This bar looks out over the fountains in front of the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall, a pretty spectacular setting when all said and done, so arriving in a Porsche seemed the right thing to do. The valets took it off to some garage somewhere rather parking it next to the Bugatti Veyron, the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow or the McLaren Mercedes which were parked outside the front door (a cumulative cost, conservatively, of around a million pounds – answers on a postcard please…..) We were a bit necky actually as we went straight through the bar and down some steps to the Mall where we went to get something to eat. We did sneak back into the hotel for a drink and to get our Valet ticket stamped, so that we could get the car back for free. Next time I’m not going to bother having the drink !
Ok, I’m struggling with anything else that might interest you so I’m off to microwave some defrosted curry that I got out this morning and to see if there’s anything remotely interesting on the 700 odd channels that we have on the telly here (I’m not holding out a lot of hope to be honest !)
I’ll try and check in sometime in the week rather than leave it nearly a week again, which is not fair I understand. I’d appreciate a few more followers please – I’d especially like to meet my regular Russian reader and anyone in the US, who’s not called Kristine, who’s following this – and then next week we can try and see who’s following in Germany and Australia (which will be nice !). We’re currently at 328 views so clearly someone is watching me !
TTFN & COYS
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