Welcome to Germany, Mary!

Day two here in Germany and Mary Eggers finally decided to show up. In an unforeseen state of circumstances my alter ego "Crabass" decided to take the usually giddy Mary's place for a day, and we can finally bid goodbye to Ms. Crabass and say Welcome PowerButt. Call it jet lag, call it what you want, it isn't like I have not traveled through tiem before. Hawaii is much further than Germany and you even have to ride a damn goat to get there.

Day two in Hamburg Germany has been of course full of adventures! We began the day at 6am as we took on the ITU World Championship bike course! What was intended to be a smooth ride thorugh the city was anything but as I made the mistake of becoming the follower. For tomorrow I have learned and memorized the way and we shall not get lost. Did I mention yet that it is freezing and rainy here?

One notable thing about Europe is their respect for cyclists. I live in the suburbs and I can get to the country in minutes. As I ride along country roads at home with our wide shoulders I can stay off the road. Still that doesn't stop the motorists from beeping because I might slow them from getting to church on time. Well this morning I rode thorugh the city streets in Germany, thousands upon thousands of cars passed me and not once, not once did I get beeped at, swerved at, anything! There are no shoulders, just 2 lane roads and I rode as far to the right as I could. Cars politely moved over to the other lane, never tried to share the lane, they slowed down, and not once did I hear a horn. Incredible!

My only regret thus far with cycling is that after an hour the streets get clogged. Tomorrow's goal is to find roads where I can ride longer and harder.

The scenery along the bike course was stunning. Yes all city riding but the architecture of the buildigs and especially the bridges was intriguing, I've never seen buildings with such intricacy. The bridges own their own unique flair and I wondered if these were built a hundred years ago. That was the kind of architecture they had.

During our ride a group pulled up to us, and a girl announced to me "I did the Portland Triathlon." Not sure what to say I simply replied "I did Lake Placid." With a laugh I rode on, not certain of the etiquette here at the World Championships. Forgive me for picking on the short course athletes, becasue I mean no harm at all. Call me an Irongirl who feels a little out of place with all of these fast twitch fibers and lack of X Labs. Out of my own lonliness I am finding myself picking on them. Occassionally I see the Ironman label on another, and we share the common smile.

Now relaize if I ever switched over to short course I would completley admonish all Ironman athletes! The door swings both ways!!!!

After an amazing breakfast at out hotel Curt and I ran the run course. I have been to some world championships and this run course might be the very best. We ran along the water on a crushed stone / dirt trail. Nice and wide and lots of people on it running, walking, biking, everything. I found the perfect place for the remainder of all of my runs. I can run 12 miles here and feel comfortable.

There was an open water swim scheduled for today but as I mentioned earlier, it is wet and freezing. We headed over to Baderland once again to meet with 50 meters of bliss. I felt great in the water and while I did not pack my swim gear, I did treat myself to new paddles, a buoy and goggles at the Expo. Some girl in Europe shop for rings, I shop for gear and gear alone!

Baderland houses all kinds of athletes, from children to the elderly. I am having the most fun interacting with the U23 crowd. None of us speak one another's language, but there is a common bond, a shared smile. These kids are part of the new generation that grew up with triathlon. Most of us dabbled in one discipline and got into triathlon later.

On tap for this evening is a dinner with our friends Tom and Eileen (Tom's one of the fastest 60 year olds on earth) and Curt getting his feet up!

Tomorrow's goal is to head out for longer workouts. I feel comfortabe now goign it alone! So Curt will ahve to do what he does worst, get some rest!

On a final note... I can see why my sister Amy moved to Europe (France) years ago. I am learning that Europe ahs this unique flair, this attotude of culture and history. Chaos but at the same time you see people spending time with people. I don't see many on their phones, blackberrys or even at a cafe with a laptop. The mix of history and modern life. The accessibility of everything. The fun.

There just might have to be an Ironman trip over here someday. We will just add that to the list!

:-) Mary Eggers