Germany update #2

Hello to everyone. To update you on what has been going on let me first let you know that Germany continues to be AWESOME. This keyboard continues to be annoying because the y and the z are switched and I invariably hit the z when ever I go to type the y. Every time.

Well yesterday was the best day yet. It was Friday, August 31st and contrary to the day before we woke up at the crack of dawn to get a jumpstart on the day. ok so really it was like 9:30. Nonetheless we hadn't been able to go to sleep until like 1:30 in the morning because of our late wakeup time the day before. actually it was funny because Travis and I were in the hotel workout room at like 11:30 when they kicked us out because it was closing. Bummer.

Anyways we woke up early so we could meet up with Evan (Fellow Sprint World Championships competitor on team USA) to go watch the Junior elite boys race the Junior ITU World Championshps at 11 am. Evan had pretty much scoped out the subway system and theres one about a half mile from the hotel that dumps y0u out right at the race sight. The junior men we SWEET. So fast. It was insane. We got some pretty decent seats right on the front rail where we could watch them as they went by every lap of the bike and run. Transition was right across from us and we were on the finishing stretch about 60m from the line.

Travis had his video camera going and we cheered loud for the USA. Our guys did alright and Gregory Billington finished 11th overall. The Junior World Champion from last year finished 2nd after he came out of the swim 5 SECONDS behind the leaders but couldn't transition fast enough to make the front pack of 5. This same guy from Great Britain is called Brownlee and he was off the bike about 1 minutes behind that lead back. He split a 14:56 5k to finish 2nd!! Crazy. Willy Pickhardt and Gregory Billington were in the 3rd pack and Willie pulled almost the whole bike. All-in-all our guys all finished in the top half.

Then back to the hotel where we did a 30 min run and an hour bike. It's still raining a bunch and so the workouts were a bit soggy. I think the main priority on race day is just going to be to keep from crashing. After working out I showered and stretched, my legs have been like really tight so I've been trying to stretch a TON. Then Me, Travis, and Ethan met up again to go watch the U23 men race. Awesome.

The USA didn't do to well but we had a blast. Standing in the pouring rain we got a spot even closer to the finish line this time and were right on the rail. We got to see them go by a total of 13 times. Another guy from Team USA showed up and while Travis kept the video rolling we screamed our lungs out. I could barely talk that night. Surrounded by hundreds of German fans we had to be loud to be heard. I think the four USA guys racing could hear us could hear us. :)

It is interesting to see how many people come just to watch these races. They are estimating about 500,000 spectators for the whole weekend of events. Insane. The Germans difinatily love their triathlons.

After the U23 race we wandered through the streets with some Aussie's who were also looking for the pasta party. Once we found it we ate and I got to talk with a kid from Hamburg who is racing us Tomorrow. He speaks good English and said he was a foreign exchange student in virginia last year.

Back on the subway to try to find our way back to the hotel we made it back around 9 or so. Then Travis and I just chilled in our rooms and watched some race walking. Didn't know that was a sport huh?

Today we had breakfast in the hotel and met a girl from Southlake and her dad. About 2 we're gonna go watch the pro women race and then do an open water swim in the lake at 5. Then back to the hotel to get our bikes and we'll go back to the race site to check them in. Trying just to rest today, take it easy, and get ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow my wave starts at 11:20 am, which should be 4:20 am CST. If you WANT to watch there will be live timing and video on Triathlon.org. You can probably know how I did before even I do. The Pro men race at 3 tomorrow and if the U23 race was crazy, the pro race will be NUTSS. It's gonna be awesome. Talk to you guys later