Brad Williams- Professional Triathlete ARCHIVES: Day 1 in FL....

10 Nov- Clearwater Beach FL-

After 27 hours of flying I finally made it to Florida and got checked into the hotel. Ended up hitting the sack around 3am and was able to get a good 5 hours of sleep in. Some good things about the trip over was that I got charged ZERO dollars for my bike box, cough cough "sports equipment". I tried a new theory this time and packed it with only my bike and wheels and absolutely nothing else. It came in at exactly 41lbs and was 19kg. The lady in Istanbul said you are lucky it is light or else we wouldn't let you take it. I was thinking well what would you make me do with it, leave it here?? So luckily I was not charged and it was checked all the way from Istanbul to Tampa, only had to take it to customs in JFK and that was it. I made sure to get plenty of sleep on the flight over to try and adjust to the time zone. I woke up with about an hour left of the 10 hour flight and the lady sitting across the aisle looked at me and said "I envy you". I was confused at first and then she told me how I was "out" for a good majority of the flight. Well I have had a small cold lately so I took some Nyquil and I am sure that is why I was "OUT".

Day 1 here in FL was a good day. Got up at 830 and went out on a search for Waffle House but could not find one so settled for IHOP. I ordered the "sampler" and the waitress screwed up and brought me something else but it was very similar minus the hash browns, so I received 3 eggs, 2 sausage, 2 french toast, 2 pieces of toast and a big glass of OJ. It was great and held me over for a little while till I met up with an old friend from Seymour Johnson AFB, one of boss's out there who is now a MR. instead of a Capt. We met up and had lunch on the beach and caught up on life and how everything is going. It is one of the nice things about the military is you meet so many people and have friends all over. He lives near Clearwater over in Tampa so we might get together Friday for dinner as well.

After lunch I headed out for my race week "long" ride of 30 miles. It was really windy from the storm up north of us "Hurricane Ida". It has brought some rain and wind down on us. It didn't start raining on me till the last 8 miles of the ride which of course dirtied up the bike, which means I have to clean it again. So I plan to ride on Thursday and then clean it after that. On my ride I spotted a VFW and stopped in to see if they had any hats. Of course they all stared at me like I was crazy. First off I was in my bike gear, spandex and helmet. Then being under 50 and walking into a VFW you stand out like a sore thumb. I picked up two hats from their post for some friends in Korea and then headed back out on the road. Felt really good on the bike and the tail wind back really helped and I was flying.

So I got back from my ride and was just hanging out in the hotel room and came across Terenzo Bozzonne's Tweet about being at a local bike shop (he is last years Ironman 70.3 World Champion). So I figured nothing going on so I would catch a cab over to the bike shop and check out his sweet ride and hang out. It was a good time and got to talk to several folks from around here and then here him talk about some race strategy and got some race tips. What is cool about the pro triathletes is once you tell them you are military they normally have a bunch of questions about you and your life with training and the military. They are all really down to earth and are cool people. After the bike shop I headed back down towards the beach to have some dinner.

Dinner was GREAT! Had some awesome raviolis which came with a salad and bread. Threw on some extra carbs with two Blue Moon drafts. It is hard to come back to the states from Turkey where I do not have the luxury of draft beer and not have a couple while I am back. I also met up with a friend that I met in Germany and enjoyed the beers with her while we caught up and told "triathlon 'war' stories".

Well now I am laying in bed getting ready to watch my favorite show on TV, only problem is I will have to watch the darn commercials. SONS OF ANARCHY, hour and a half special!!

Check back tomorrow for a Day 2 Update!