2010 Advance Week: A Long Day...

It's been 28hrs since I left yesterday morning...

The fatigue is setting in now...but I'm determined to stay awake until (at least) 9pm tonight...jet lag sucks. So if I seem a bit 'off' my normal style...you'll know why!

So where to begin...

Why not start where I left off...the O-Show. The days following the Games were jammed packed playing catch up on 'real' work. My Olympic experience was a treat, but the reality of the situation is that the business of Nordic skiing trucked on as usual while I was gone - leaving lots of catch up on. As always, I managed to cram in most of my 'to do' list before leaving, all in order to get ready for this next project - Advance Week!

In addition to playing 'catch-up', I was desperately trying to fit in as many running workouts as possible to get my legs up to speed. I definitely didn't want a 're-run' of the last time I came to Advance Week (2 yrs ago), where I paid the price for not having 'running legs' under me...

An early morning run with the crew to make sure I was good and stiff before hopping on my flight to Marseille. The 'Harrier' crew seen here taking in the scenery on top of the Highline - Overnight flurries left the Rockies covered in a dusting of the white stuff.


Not much to see here...I thought I would see much more snow on the ground in the South of France as the entire region was hit by a 40+cm snowfall earlier in the week!


Flight Crew member Jen Segger catching a few Z's in transit to Bedoin. Upon arrival to Marseille, we hooked up with Camille, Advance Week organizer, as well as Didier and Christine of Reunion Island...


Don't know where Reunion is? Thought I'd save you the research...Don't worry, I didn't know either.


The final pit stop of this very long day - Mt Ventoux in the background - site of many Tour de France finishes. If the legs hold up, I'll get to run up this sucker a few times this week...Can't wait.

All in all, despite being very tired, I'm excited to be here. A few of us are plugging away at our laptops trying to sneak in a post before dinner - mine is taking forever. Most of the runners have arrived at the hotel - A few more are still to come...Tomorrow kicks off with product testing at 8am.

I'm tired.