My decision to race the Muskoka 70.3 was fairly last minute – well, last minute in the world of endurance sport racing. My spring-summer racing schedule was actually quite empty. The Mont Tremblant 70.3 was the only race that I had registered for as either Dave and I had other committments that clashed with the local triathlons that I wanted to do. Knowing how much racing shorter events helps me, especially with the swim, we decided that the Muskoka 70.3 would be a good option for me.

Initially, there were a few concerns about racing Muskoka. First, it was only two weeks after Mont Tremblant. It was also another hilly course. I was worried about my recovery from Tremblant and whether I would be ready for Muskoka, as well as how doing the two races so close together could beat up my body. “What if I just do Muskoka to finish, not race, not push myself, but to just get a solid day of training?” We agreed that this was a good plan, a simulation day for future racing. As it turned out, though, since I didn’t finish Mont Tremblant, my initial fears became a non-issue.

Dave and I arrived in Huntsville on Friday in the early evening, too late for me to go out for a quick run or ride. The next morning, I laced up my shoes and headed out for an easy run, only to be quickly reminded of how hilly the area is. At 10:00 a.m., the temperature was climbing and the humidity was high. “Oh, tomorrow is going to be tough” I thought. “Remember: this is just a long training day.”

After checking in my bike in the early afternoon, Dave and I spent the rest of the day playing tourist. We spent a few hours at the old railway station where Dave was absolutely in awe with the Algonquin train.

“Oh, look!” he said. “We can ride the train in 45 minutes!”

“How long is the ride?” he asked the attendant.

“An hour.”

“An hour?” I thought. “That is 45 minutes from now. It’s really hot….I should be resting for tomorrow….We’re going to be here all afternoon…” I bit my lip and sat down on a bench as I watched Dave proceed to question a conductor about the train, question after question after question. He was like a child enamoured with a new Lego set, and I was not about to pull him away.

Forty-five minutes later, we were sitting on the train and rode 500 metres of track, de-boarded the train to watch it turn around, and re-boarded to return to the station. After that, we toured the museum and listened to a presentation on the early history of Canadian trains (which was actually quite interesting). Dave was bright-eyed the entire time. As much as I wanted to leave, I just couldn’t; he was having the time of his life.

Playing tourist was not the best way to spend the afternoon before the race but it took my mind off it, and seeing how much Dave loved everything about the train and museum made it absolutely worthwhile.