Here we go!
Our trip to the big Island for Ironman World Championships
has begun, and quite frankly it hasn’t sunk in yet. It probably will when we
touch down later today or maybe tomorrow when I go check out the swim start and
walk around the Ironman village. I feel like a 5-year old on Christmas Eve,
struggling to contain my excitement with what’s ahead of us. I just want to be
there and freeze the time for few days or weeks maybe. We both worked hard to
get here, and Mariesa did a lot of sacrifices to allow me to be there. It’s
time to celebrate and rip the benefits of all those sacrifices.
We decided to break up the long flight from New York and
spent a day in Seattle, which greeted us with perfect fall weather: sunny and
warm enough so we could comfortably walk around with a sweater. Perfect day! Mariesa’s
friend, Courtney, was kind enough to host us. I had a great tempo run around
Green Lake in the afternoon. It felt good to see that the legs were still
turning over pretty fast after the 5-hour flight. We took off this morning for Kona,
and the plan is, if the flight isn’t too delayed, to go pick up the bike from
TriBike Transport and ride for a few hours, mainly to shake off the jetlag, but
mostly because I cannot wait to get some training in. We’ll see how that goes. I
don’t think I’ll be able to get 2.5-3 hours in, but anything will do.
The schedule for next week is phenomenal. Mariesa and I will
probably meet up with Enzo tomorrow, a college friend from France who now works
as a Sales rep for Endless Pools in the burbs of Philly. Ironically enough, his
company will demo their products at Kona. What a small world! I’d love to get
in the water and maybe go for a “coffee swim”, or swimming off the beach to a
boat, get an espresso shot, and swim back. Apparently that Lava Java coffee is
supposed to be the bomb! After that, I will meet up with Matt to go for our
1-on-1 with the Energy Lab! A 30-40min
will allow me to see what hell will feel like come race day. I can’t wait to
take it all in and enjoy the experience. We’ll go pick up my parents and Bryan
on Monday night, and Bryan will do IronKids, which consist of a 125-yrd swim
and a mile run. Aside from that, it’ll be pretty low key I think. I’ll try to
get in the water at least once a day, even if it’s just for 20 minutes. I saw
some crazy pictures and am dying to take the GoPro and get my own.
Thursday will be busy: Kona Underpants run at 7:30am,
followed by some training on the bike, the Trisports Kona Party at 4pm, and
finally the Welcome banquet at 6pm. I know that I’ll most likely leave some
precious energy with all these shenanigans, but I really want to enjoy the
experience. I’ll go hungrier than ever to do well on race day, but I don’t want
this to impede on the experience.
Friday will be bike check-in day and all about relaxing
before the big dance on Saturday. Exciting! This week will fly by, and before I
know it all of it will just be a blur, relying on pictures, videos, and
laughter to remember it all. The second week will be all about vacationing and
nothing about triathlon for once! See kayaking, zip lining, scuba diving,
hiking…what is your program?
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