Lake Placid 2024: Day 4 of 7

I was on a three-day posting streak but was too tired yesterday afternoon to write one. I only biked 60 miles yesterday but it was in multiple sections around and during my friend Tom’s Kayak-Bike-Run race. My broken ankle limited me to biking, taking photos of the kayakers, and cheering the runners on my bike. It was VERY hot when I biked home at noon.

While I was watching the US Women beat Germany 4-1 in Soccer this Bald Eagle was across the pond in a tree and definitely had a clear view of my TV!

With my running on hold, I cycled 176 miles last week and did a very long swim this morning.

It is so clear today that there was a perfect view of Buffalo and Canada. I was going to write this blog post on that perfect bench but my swim went so long that I had to hurry off to an errand.

Saturday, July 20th was a day for me to relax a little after biking 75 miles on Thursday and Volunteering five hours on Friday.

I slept “late” and did just an hour of Yoga at sunrise as my exercise for the day. It was a perfect morning, so pleasantly cool I wore sweats, the birds provided a soundtrack.

I had my usual cold bagel and peanut butter and fruit for breakfast but then grabbed some coffee with a friend, nice views.

My friends Andy and Kara had organized an “Undie” run (a common event in the pre-Covid Ironman days but not recently) but I had a short volunteer meeting at the same time 🙁

They got a great turnout! The photo on the right is just the Buffalo Triathlon Club folks.

Meanwhile…. I was at the orientation meeting for the finish line Food volunteer people.

I had worked in the finisher food tent 2 years ago so there was nothing new for me to learn but I remembered the main rules: wear gloves, look out for glassy-eyed finishers, DON’T steal the athlete’s food (volunteers get unlimited free food in the high school above the oval), EXCEPT for bananas, they always have too many 🙂 Evan (bottom right in photo) and his wife Cindy bring up around 15 volunteers from Georgia every year and run registration, the Saturday Pancake Breakfast, and finish line food.

At registration on Friday and again at the food area, I saw a guy wearing an Ironman Alaska hat.

I had a friend in the BTC who had done that race in 2022 the ONLY year they had it. The weather was cold, rainy, and windy and Juneau was way too small to host so many visitors. But Pierre had done the race by himself in 2023 after biking there from Quebec! He was very unassuming and didn’t mention his book or speaking tour!

I Googled him as “Pierre” who biked from Quebec to Alaska and ….

I had a lot of trouble finding his book online as the original Pierre Beauregard was…

I wandered around the expo and the town, now that it was past registration anyone wearing a yellow Ironman bracelet was a RACER.

I got my photo here as it shows Panama City Beach where I’ll be doing the Ironman Florida in November (the full 140.6, not the 70.3 on the poster).

Wanting to rest my ankle, a driving activity seemed like a good idea. I went to the top of Whiteface Mountain. It was totally clear, unlike last year when it was in a cloud and drizzly (even though sunny in Lake Placid). It was still cold and windy though.

The setting sun was an amazingly solid red disc. I had dinner again at the Tail O’ the Pup. The barbecue chicken was excellent and the music was blues played by an 82-year-old guy.

It is 92 degrees today so instead of subjecting Fifa’s paws to the blazing hot pavement Alex and I took her out back after dinner instead of walking her. As soon as we stepped outside a HUGE Bald Eagle flew low over the pond and settled in a tree across from us. It shook off some water so it must have tried to get a fish from the pond right before we saw it. I had seen one last year (for the first time in the 20 years I’ve lived here), but just once. This one seems to like it here! I alerted the neighbors and brought over my binoculars so their kids could see it.