Cohutta 100 part 1

After a loooong drive on Thursday, I met up with Laura (a former Michigan racer) in Tennessee for a late dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Then it was bedtime. I had NO problem sleeping as I was dead tired. 

On Friday morning Laura and I met up with Carey to ride the singletrack that we would hit first in the race. We all rode at our own pace, and I suffered in silence for the most part. My legs felt stiff from my 12 hour drive the day before and it was HOT out. Ok, I know you are all probably saying, "we had to read your complaints all winter long about the cold, so don't you dare start talking about it being to hot out," and I'm not going to. I like hot weather, but it takes me a while to acclimate. During our pre-ride I felt absolutely sluggish and my legs didn't want to move. I just kept telling myself that my coach wanted me to take it easy anyways!

Laura, Carey and I with our bikes. Carey and I were riding full suspension, Laura was on a SS hardtail.
Afterwards we cooled off and caught up on our plans for the summer....
Then it was time for dinner. It's amazing how fast the day before a race goes. One minute you think you have all the time in the world, the next minute it's time to start preparing drop bags. 

Zeke (Carey's training partner and one of the nicest guy's I've ever met) treated us all to Goodfella's. He was definitely outnumbered at the dinner table but managed to hold his own! And on a side note, be sure to stop at Goodfella's if you are ever in the area. From the outside it looks like a small diner, but the food is AMAZING! And it's owned by the former chef to the Detroit Pistons!

Zeke and Carey telling us to "come on in." Actually, Zeke was telling me to put away my camera because I looked like a tourist :-)

After dinner Laura and I headed back to our room to get our drop bags ready. This is easily my least favorite part about hundred milers as I always start worrying that I'm forgetting something. I was in bed by 10:00 p.m. and willed myself to sleep. I always have a hard time falling asleep the night before a race, and we were planning on waking up at 4:50 a.m. so that we could eat, pack up the car and get to the race venue with plenty of time to get ready for the 7 a.m. start. I understand why the races start early, but it always feels absolutely brutal when the alarm is going off at what seems like the middle of the night. Ugh!

To be continued...