Vancouver is Freezing

It's cold. It's wet. It's really really cold and really really wet.
It's exactly like last year's race conditions...absolutely, ridiculously, freezing! I LOVE it!
We just got back from a team dinner at Ciao Bella, an Italian joint down the street from our hotel. I sat at the end of a long table with Dr. Keith, Laura, Tim, Diana and Julie and we had a lot of good laughs waiting for our food. Unfortunately, it was a long wait for the food because of the 'long table' situation. I have been to more than my fair-share of team events and been a part of many, many group meal situations.
Here's a piece of advice: As much as I am a fan of making sure that no one is left out of the whole 'group' experience during the meal, you are just asking to be waiting and wondering where you food is while the 4-person table next to you has been served and cleared three times! For pete's sake, just split up and don't give the servers a hernia when they try to distribute 20 main courses in one delivery!
The saving grace tonight was the quality of the food. It was delish. The bread was freshly baked and still warm from the oven. I shared some sauteed mushrooms with Timmers. Followed that with a green salad and some pasta primavera and I am sitting here in my hotel suite with a very happy belly.
Did I mention suite? Yep, this is the largest hotel room that I have ever experienced. First, enter our hallway and feel free to drop your coat off in the hall closet. Feel free to take a right turn into our walk-through, fully equipped kitchen. Keep going straight and relax in our enormous living room with dining area, work desk, and plush couch. Our bedroom (I am rooming with Amanda Stevens) is through the second hallway. Take a left or you will find yourself in the bathroom. Need to get some fresh air...enjoy our covered balcony on the 11th floor.
As Sunday approaches, I am getting more and more excited to toe the starting line. I watched the Junior women freeze their way through the sprint World Championships this morning and was inspired by the creative methods employed to beat the chill...UnderArmor shirts under the race suits, gloves, arm warmers...wearing a helmet for the entire run because her fingers were too cold to remove the buckle. Yep, this should be fun!