I have been very slack with updating my blog. So here goes!
The trip in was good. I wish I could say uneventful but this is my life we are talking about and there is always something crazy happening. Firstly,I left my house at 4am Friday morning. This is never a good idea as I don't sleep at all the night before. But I was so excited to get on the plane and get things going I survived. Hank decided the night before he could not bare to get the kids up and out so early so he got me a car service. All I wanted to do was fall back asleep but I had a very talkative driver who had obviously overdosed on caffeine and kept me entertained the whole way. He too almost took me to JFK instead of Philadelphia which might of been a problem. Baggage check went smoothly but 1 bike 1 bag now costs $125. They were trying to charge me $140 for 2 bags but I refused that. It is getting out of CONTROL on these airlines!
My second surprise was that I realized that I was flying through Phoenix instead of San Francisco like I previously wrote. My daughter was telling my husband that she wanted to look for the Golden Gate Bridge when she lands and he was a little confused!
The next flight to Kona did not go so well. We were all ready to take off when they announced we had to all get off the plane and switch planes. That became a 2 hour delay. I did get to meet some nice triathletes though. Nina Kraft was sitting next to me and we chatted for awhile. Finally after a few cups of tea and lunch we got to board and begin our 6 hour flight to Kona. All went smoothly until an elderly lady in front of me decided to get up to use the rest rooms and her legs gave way under her. I rushed to grab her under her arms. The problem was that she was pushing 250 pounds and no matter how strong I think I am I was going down with her. I had both arms underneath her arms and I was in a squat and my legs were buckling too. Finally some guy came to help. When I sat down I felt like I had just done an all out effort sprint. My legs were jelly and my back tightened up. I immedietly popped two Advil and hoped for the best!
It was great arriving in Kona. Tom and Christine were there to pick me up with big smiles on there faces and beautiful tans. It felt so good to be in Hawaii again.
This will be my fourth time racing here and I feel luckier each time to be here as the competition get more fierce each year!
It was dusk when I arrived at my house and and I immeadietly put my gear on to go for an hour run. It was perfect running conditions and I set out down Alii Drive. It is always so motivating running there. I got to see Desiree, Nina and a few other studly looking triathletes running too.
Day 2
Tom and Christine were doing an ocean swim race which sounded so beautiful but I had a pool swim to do and a three hour bike. So I arranged that I would meet them at Hapuna Beach ( one of my favorites!) and ride with them up to Hawi. The ride out to Hapuna was amazing. It is such a good feeling being back here again. The surroundings are beautiful and it is always fun reading the stone writings that stand out on the black bava fields. Tom told me it should take me about an hour to get to Hapuna. He underestimated it by almost an hour. So I kept riding thinking I could have missed it. The winds were pretty friendly until I reached the 28 mile mark on the Queen K. The winds had switched and they were blowing hard off the mountains. I smiled as this is the Kona winds that I always expect here. Strong gusts and slow speeds. I stopped at Hapuna to get some very much needed gatorade and met up with Tom and Christine. We then headed out. They said this was the worse wind they had experienced all week. It was good to be riding and seeing alot of friendly faces out there. I saw Norman and Hillary out there and caught a glimpse of my friend Linsey Corbin. I turned about half way up Hawi. Tom and Christine continued but said the wind got so bad that a girl got blown off the road on her bike, Tom had to help her up off the gravel!
I was thrilled to finish my ride as I was feeling quite hungry and very HOT.I am a little nervous about 112 miles if its blowing hard here...it seems very far!
The ride back into Kona we were all wiped.
After a little break I headed down to the pool. Paulo, Jonnyo, Khai and Danny had arrived and were all hanging out at Lava Java(big shock!)
The pool was closing so I had to head down for a 4000 yard workout. The Kona Aquatics Pool is perfect! Swimming felt so good too! Paulo stopped by with Khai and Will who they had just picked up at the airport. It is great to see everybody looking SO fit and ready to race!
Sunday morning the gang met early at the pool for a swim. I am dying to get in the ocean...I may have to go play down there later. We did a nice 3500 yard workout with a descending 400 300 200 100 set twice through. This kind of swimming reminded me of our training camps in Las Cruces. Later I met Jodi, Danny and Will for a mello ride down the Queen K. My legs felt really good. I think my body is finally coming around! YaY!
Today is Monday and we met for another really solid pool swim. Kona is getting really busy now and for the first time the pool was packed. We met up with Sergio and the whole Portugese group and Tracy had come into town last night so it was good to see her too. Our main set today was a 1500 descend, which is always fun! I got to see my friend Tara Norton who was heading into the pool looking fit and fast! Faris and Peter were there too being filmed the whole time! Today is a relaxing day with a 4pm run at the Energy Lab. It should be HOT as usual! I shall try put some pics up soon, although I have not taken too many! I think I shall head down to the beach for an hour now to relax!
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