T-Minus 22 hours and change: Planes, trains and automobiles

Dateline: St. Louis.

Kudos to my boss for advocating that I go to Denver on Thursday night. Because, as I've learned this month, winter on the high plains extends deep into April. This time, I drove down after a communications department retreat on Thursday afternoon, and instead of the weather clearing upon crossing into Colorado it got worse. There was a nice layer of ice underneath the slushy snow and that helped me take two hours to drive to Fort Collins. Of course, it was all rain in Colorado, in some spots raining so hard that I couldn't see more than a quarter-mile in front of me.

I got a hotel room I couldn't afford, ate leftovers microwaved in the breakfast room downstairs, and got a good night's sleep, falling asleep in front of FitTV (Gabrielle Reece interviewing Barry Zito about his regimen of yoga, stretching, surfing and guitar-playing; and then Gina Lombardo, fitness trainer to the stars, talking to pro football players sitting in ice baths and to ex-volleyball players about warming up their rotator cuffs).

When I woke up Friday, the first thing I did... OK, second thing I did was check my flight status. My flight to St. Louis was cancelled. The one leaving early in the morning was on time. The one leaving an hour after mine was on time. But mine was cancelled. I had planned on hitting the treadmill for a half-hour but I had to get to the airport. They rebooked me to St. Louis through Chicago and, eventually, I got here. I took the Metrolink train to the arena here, picked up my packet, and made my way to my friend Elisa's crib in the Shrewsbury section of St. Louis.

We had dinner, went out out for a drink, tired out her dog in the backyard, and then went to sleep at a somewhat reasonable hour. Now I'm figuring out how to bury the day before a race. I've never been to this city before and I want to see as much of it as possible, but I also want to stay off my feet some. Or I could be a true tourist and chalk up tomorrow's race as a loss. We'll see.

I forgot to mention Elisa's dog, Rontu, a 75-pound SIberian husky. He's very sociable and has not shown one iota of hostility toward me, a guest in his house (though Elisa's roommate, Liz, aka the owner of this house, would have something to say about that). I was awakened by the jingling of tags and the hard padding of large clawed feet across hardwood floors, followed by a wet nose on my forehead. No problem, though; there was no malicious intent. I've thought about getting one of those for myself, but Elisa says they're kind of high-maintenance, and my concern would be how the cat would react to an interloper. Then again, 12-year-old, 6-pound Lucy might own that dog after a couple of days.

The weather here? It was 72 and sunny when I emerged from the main terminal at Lambert International Airport. It's going to be 70 and cloudy today. For the sake of perspective, I think I've seen 60 once this spring, and that preceded snow or something. It'll be "cooler" Sunday, according to the national weather service, with temperatures in the upper 50s. There will be much water and Gatorade consumed today.

Oh yeah, the race. I've followed through on my thread of purchasing a Cubs shirt to wear. And they're playing the Cardinals in Chicago this weekend. What timing! And I'll wear my lightweight shoes, after reading an article in the latest Triathlete about the perils of wearing heavy motion control shoes. While you're not supposed to try new things for a race, my training regimen dictates this race could be all about experimentation. God help me if I get a PR.