OP50 travel day.

Leading up to the race many of you know that my training was not up to par or really where I was wanting it to be. I had calf problems for a while and seemed to get that under control over the last few weeks. But my training during the week was absolutely Zero! I just didn't have the motivation to run during the week and so basically, I didn't!

As OP50 approached last week, I really didn't know what to expect as far as my time was concerned. I mean, in the back of my mind I wanted to run 13-14 hours but with things above I would be happy to make the 15 hour cut off and the aid station cut offs. I have packed for many triathlon races and packing for my second ultra I found myself a little lost and confused. What do I need type thing, based on weather conditions and terrain but the more I thought about packing the more nervous/scared I was about heading down to do this race. It's not like I would be alone or anything, Jimmy, Molly, and Bill along with S.Baboo and Misty would be towing the line as well. Still didn't matter, for me, it was something that I knew I was pretty much on my own and with the lack o training I guess I felt like it was going to be harder than I anticipated.

Jimmy and I left Friday morning at 5am and it was unfortunate that heading to Tucson there was that bus accident on I-10 just outside of Phoenix, where it crashed, flipped, rolled and caught fire killing 6 and injuring lots others. It was national news that morning and the opposite side of the freeway was still closed when we passed by and saw the bus. It was definitely an creepy feeling and with the traffic backup for about 6 miles you could only think about the crash victims.

As we pulled into FleetFeet Tucson for packet pickup it was long before Molly and Bill pulled up to as they were basically about 30 mins behind us the whole day. We did all our packet stuff and off we left to ranch bed and breakfast. We followed Bill and Molly because they knew exactly where to go and sure glad we did because it made it much easier than trying to find this ranch on our own. It called The Walker Ranch and what a beautiful place it was. Our room was great with a nice memory foam bed and pillows. Now I will say I am glad Jimmy brought his air mattress because I wasn't in the mood to spoon. Once we all got settled in our rooms and rechecked out drop bags it was off to go eat in the big booming town of Sonoita where in 2ooo census the population was 826! We found a great Italian place and enjoyed the food and friends and headed back to the ranch to settle in being as wake up time was 3am and leave the ranch time was 4:15am. According to Bill and Molly it takes about 20 mins to drive down the dirt road to the start and you want to get there early to get a good parking or you could be walking more than you want to at the finish. Lights out before 8:30pm and the alarm hit at 3am strong...more to come.

rockon'