Off to the States

As I type this it’s -53C (-63F) outside (brrrr), but then again I’m sat at 38,000ft in a British Airways Boeing 777 heading across the Atlantic still 1400miles from Atlanta. The final stage of what I’m determined will be my last attempt at Ironman.
The last week of training has been patchy although I don’t suppose it matters a lot.
Monday and Tuesday were full of work and little else (as normal).
Wednesday I took Rosie Pup out on her last 7mile run for a while.
Thursday I rode a solid 40miles averaging 20.5mph on a windy Devon Day before hitting the pool for a straight 2km swim and taking in my final 2hr massage courtesy of my clubmate, the lovely Maria. How such a dainty lass can cause so much pain is worrying.
Friday was a very very long day full of nothing but last minute packing once my final work day was done which leads me onto the current 3 days of solid travelling.
Saturday started with a 3hr drive to the Midlands so we could visit the folks and drop Rosie Pup of for a fortnights ‘Boot Camp’ with them. After a few hours and a sneaky 9mile run it was time to make the 2.5hr drive down the M40 to Heathrow Airport. We’d got a package deal for 2 weeks of car parking along with a night at the Park Inn hotel which was well worth the money just to split the journey up. It’s a bit posh for us and their ‘standard’ room rate is scary expensive, but it’s only once a year and our package (with parking) was thankfully a while lot cheaper. They also do a fantastic 4 course buffet meal for £20 which was amazing value for money, the bottle of wine was very nice if not quite the same value.
Onto today and a flight from Heathrow’s Terminal 5 which is very pleasant. The bags were all booked in with minimum fuss, the staff were real friendly and there’s even a Wetherspoons so the food didn’t break the bank. There was also a Harrods so if somebody wants to buy a pair of slippers for £178 (yes, really) they can. Once we’ve finally landed, collected the baggage and dealt with the Immigration gubbins it’ll be early evening in Atlanta and Monday in the UK so it’s off to the Hyatt Hotel (another of Shelly’s deals) for the night and then on Monday morning there’s just the 300+ mile drive to Panama City Beach and we’re done. I’m hoping to get in a sneaky trip to All3Sports before we leave Atlanta to see what goodies they’ve got there that I can’t afford.
Once we’ve finally reached PCB there’s not a great deal to do really, just get used to the heat, spend a few days browsing the Ironman Village, get in a few small training sessions and chill for a while. Then it will be race day and before you know it I’ll be a retired Ironman.