LPC Triathlon Camp - I made it!

I made it.

I am currently sitting on my bed in my room at the Secrets House (Every house has a name...which is kind of cool), typing this because despite knowing how early I need to get up tomorrow, I am too wired to sleep. I am not nearly as nervous as I was - but I am definitely still anxious. No longer worried about the people...just being able to keep up or not be too embarrassed! I expect by end of day tomorrow that will be gone though. Once I'd done a full cycle of swim/bike/run activities.

Arrival today was entertaining. My Dad and I left for the airport with a few hours to spare...but after 90 minutes waiting in line at the Ambassador Bridge, the time for my flight was getting very close...like under an hour close.

Our extra detour (the highway ramp was under construction) included driving through some really sketchy areas of Detroit...with burnt out buildings, abandoned buildings and some policemen on what looked like a bust.

But, we made it to the airport...and thanks to flying Southwest, it was one of the smaller terminals. I had no challenges checking my bag or getting through security. Phew! Ended up with enough time to grab lunch and call my mother to say I'd made it.

The flight was easy and smooth. The plane was filled with a lot of excited kids headed to Disney World...I think the airplane could've run on them to be honest. I am sure next Saturday the plane will be filled with very exhausted kids. Funny how that works!

Coach Jeff picked me up at the airport (funny refering to him as such since we went to high school together...but it'll help you keep people sorted), and then we detoured to the grocery store. I stocked up for the week. Thank goodness the "Super Target" (as opposed to the new Targets we have in Canada now), had Greek yogurt. I bought a tub and a small container of peanut butter. Do you want to bet they are both gone by the end of the week?

Coach Jeff dropped me off at my house next....Wow! It's awesome. It's huge to start (it has a pool - in case we don't get enough swimming in sessions), a big kitchen, sitting room, garage and more. Seriously - very impressed. It's called Emerald Island Resort. Very grand. Apparently the camp has 4 houses, all pretty close to each other. I've only seen mine and the camp house so far though. I imagine tomorrow I'll see the others.

Most of my housemates were already there when I arrived. I believe we also have Coach Nissim (I am not sure I am spelling his name correctly) staying here - but he's not set to arrive until late tonight.  All of the other campers seem like very nice folks.

I arrived just in time to have dinner with them and to learn their stories. Three of them have done triathlons before - and one has even been to the camp before - so together they make great people to ask questions of. ::grin:: And I am sure I'll have a lot. One of the other folks is new to the sport too...so I really won't be the only newbie, although he did say his strength is his bike.

And we do all seem to have different skills. One is a good swimmer. Another thinks swimming is the part you suffer through to get to the bike. They all seem like decent cyclists...so I made them promise not to laugh too hard at my biking. They were all very encouraging - and one made a point to tell me about their penchant early on to fall going zero miles an hour. It helped, believe it or not.

Another person said that they would be listening in on the advice being given to me on my tri-bike since they didn't bring their bike because they haven't really gotten comfortable with it yet. I mentioned that was one benefit to starting from scratch...I can learn right from the get go and not have to try and get used to it later. See, there are some bonuses to being a newbie!

Anyways - that's it for now. I've unpacked. I've written my first blog. Now it's time to get to sleep before my first big day tomorrow!