I'm really not that fat...

Today is D-Day. Start our D-rive to Boulder.

I didn't pack last night. Too tired. Instead packed this morning with a clear head and in under 90 minutes was done.

Although things went well I still pulled out of the driveway with this feeling I forgot something....Nothing yet came to mind as of this blog post. I just have that feeling.

I drove a different way, down through Niagara Falls and then towards Colorado. Through Cleveland. Didn't have time to hook up with Matty O and Heather, on return visit for sure.

The reason we went through Niagara Falls is I had a couple of eBay items I bought and had to have them send to a U.S. address. The first was a replicate trophy from the World Cup and the second was a fire hydrant. Both for the Pig & Whistle. Essential purchases.

Turns out they did not have them under my name and needed the tracking number. Which I didn't have and in hindsight I should have just pulled out my computer and logged on to eBay. Instead I left only to find hundreds of miles away they had both arrived already. Doh!!!

Oh well, I'll just have to take the long way back and pick them up. Which isn't bad, it's a nice ride than driving through Detroit, Windsor or Sarnia.

The only downside was the incredible amount of tolls. I had no idea that the tolls through Illinois was going to be so much. I bet we spent $40 on tolls.

Before I left today I took a picture of myself with my good buddy Bill Seedes T-Shirt he sent me on. Bill has a daughter with Downs Syndrome and does all his triathlons to raise money or downs syndrome. Every year for the past number of years he's sent me all sorts of great swag, including shirts, tri racing outfit, water bottles, bags, etc, etc, you name it. Great swag.

In honour of him and his cause I wanted my first photo graph on this journey of doing my final Ironman to be with his shirt on. After Alice took the shot and I looked at it it made me look a little plump. I don't care, I'm not upgrading to a large shirt from a medium and frankly I was surprised, the camera must add 20 lbs because I ain't that plump in my minds eye.

If you want to support Bill and a great cause please donate to him by clicking here.

The car ride was actually not to bad. We chatted. It was like a summer vacation car ride. We had the truck packed, the bikes on the back and headed to a destination. I was telling Alice that this seemed like the first summer that had an actual summer vacation feel.

To me this is more than a journey to my last Ironman. This is a journey to the next half of my life. I really do see this as a defining moment.

I look back to 1991 when I did my last Ironman before taking off 17 years and doing my next one. Truth is I didn't take off 17 years. I was so beat up after doing that 3rd Ironman due to lack of training that I finished in 14 hours plus and walked most of the run and swore I'd never do another Ironman ever again, that they were stupid and what was I thinking.

Fast forward 17 years and I do another Ironman, my 4th and I did it faster than any of my three previous Ironman's in my 20's. Since my comeback I've done 8 more Ironmans and not one has been slower than my slowest time in my 20's. All 8 of my Ironman's in my 40's have been sub 12 hour Ironmans, my fastest 10:20. My fastest in my 20's was 12:14.

So here I am, feeling history is going to repeat itself. When I quit Ironman's in 1991 I was 24 and just co-founded my first real business, then worked my ass off to make a career. Then after 17 years of making a career I was 50 lbs over weight and the industry I made my career in was dying. I was selling buggy whips.

It's almost a complete mirror, except hopefully I'm not near the level of pain I was after this Ironman as I was in 1991. Difference this time is I know this will be my last Ironman on my terms. Then I want to focus on my career, on my terms.

I'm quite excited about this new book of life and the drive to Boulder seems to be the drive from one reality to the next. The point of the "big Bang' and the creation of my new universe will be when I cross that finish line. That line is going to be the window I walk through from the old world to the next. Now if that isn't motivation to finish, nothing is. How could I not finish and get through that window?

The one thing about a road trip is eat like you are on a road trip. You don't want much down time so today it was lunch at Wendy's and some, and I say this loosely, healthy snacks from gas stations along the way. Corn chips are healthy right? They have good salt right?

We did stop for one healthy meal at Chili's. Then back on the road.

The plan was to stop in Chicago and have a fun night in Chicago. I was craving a nice big steak and Chicago has some great steak houses. As we were about 2 hours out of Chicago Alice started looking for hotels on her iPad. We booked one. Turns out the date we selected there was no rooms and it gave us a date in August. On to the phone with expedia I went and had to go through some hoops to cancel and get my money back on a non-refundable room.

I thought Alice made an honest mistake on picking the dates, she didn't because after that she drove and I started looking for rooms and the same thing happened to me. We were using Trivago and they kept adjusting the dates to different ones even though I picked today's date.

Now with that said, Chicago was sold out. YES, the entire City of Chicago was sold out, unless you wanted to pay $350 per night or more and $60 for parking. Obviously a sign of a strong economy.

We had a choice, spent $500 in Chicago for a night or move on. We moved on. I was hoping we'd be able to get a room in downtown Chicago for $125. I could in August according to the online sellers, not in July.

So we drove more, now in the dark.

It was around 10 pm, we'd been on the road about 12 hours and time to stop. I called a head to a town, their was a Country Inn & Suites. I got the price. Then I looked online and saw I could save $10. Only problem was I picked the Comfort Inn & Suites online and not the Country Inn and I picked the wrong town. The town I picked was 40 minutes out of the way. I didn't realize I made this mistake until I showed up at the Country Inn and Suites and they had no reservation for me. DOH.

So now we had to drive 40 more minutes at 10 pm to some town called Fulton. We pulled up, it wasn't bad but it was no Country Inn & Suites. You have no idea how much I'm not staying at some cheap flea bag place ever again. I got totally discussed with my trip to Boise and at Boise when I stayed in Motel 6's. The type of people that stay beside you that pay $39 per night are a little scary. By paying a little more you separate yourself from danger.

We got into the room, was tired. The bed sucked, it reminded me of a motel 6 bed and the pillows were half size. I've never seen half sized pillows before. The room was freezing and when I turned on the heat it started smelling like something was burning.

Only other hassle is taking the bikes off the truck. Yes, Bike(s). There is two. The second bike is for Alice to get around Boulder on. This way she doesn't have to walk during the race, she has a mountain bike to get around on. That is one of the benefits of driving, you can add another bike no charge.

All and all, good first day on the road. Minor speed bumps.