14 hours to D day

Well finally here we are at the Knieper West sports halls, despite them only being 3ks from my hotel it took most of the cloudy, cold, drizzling day Saturday (just look up the german Whereis and you will see Arnold zweig Strasse listed 6 times incredibly confusing, i'd actually been in the Aldi it was behind early in the day!). We are truly in the heart of old East Germany, endless blocks of what look like colourful housing commission flats. After settling i headed down to the beach but with 14 degree water temp wasnt tempted to swim. Medical checks (just hope they give me a larger capacity sample cup tomorrow!) and then the rest of the afternoon meeting people (including some familiar faces) and then to the official race briefing and media conference. A massive buffet there (sadly the pasta sauce a little rich for me) and now its back for hopefully a good nights sleep (even passed on a beer, after 1 with lunch yesterday promised myself that would be the last till i finished day one). Now for a deep dreamless sleep and then race day.