Kona: Day Four - Wednesday

My nerves started to fire up a bit today.  With only 3 more sleeps until the race, I was a little more on edge in the morning than I have been.  It didn't last past breakfast, but the thought of racing in a few days was definitely there.

After another successful breakfast, Mom and Dad took Aiden for the day to leave Beth and myself to have some time.  I started my day at fourish again, so I took a little nap for 15 minutes before the maids woke me up.  I also took the quiet opportunity while our son was gone (don't want the kid to see daddy cleaning a bike in a shower) to smuggle the bike into the shower to clean it.  It was beyond messy.

Beth has a big assignment to get done for grad school, so the plan was for her to take a few hours to get stuff done while I rode today.  That didn't happen.  What did happen was I got on my bike and rode into Kailua Kona town to meet her for a swim.  The water was amazingly clear and we swam together for probably 1,200 yds.  We got out and watched some people for 20 minutes before we went to grab my bike before two.  There is a nice area for athletes to check their bikes while they swim.  Ironman world championship is a truly global event.  The family we were really watching at the beach was a Saudi family.  The Mom had the full cover (think its called an aba) on while the daughter and son had basic bathing suits on.  Dad was ripped as hell in a speedo.

I got the bike back and then we walked for an hour and a half or two around town then down towards the expo.  The expo is located on Ali'i drive about a third mile from the pier.  It's a substantial expo, so I can only take so much of it.  Get my free stuff and get out.  On the way out, I met a guy I have known through social media/slowtwitch since Ironman Florida of last year...  Bruce was an awesome guy to finally meet, and I am sure that I will see him a few more times before the week is over.

Mom, Dad, and Aiden had called and were super close and offered to pick Beth up and I rode the bike the 6 or so miles back down Ali'i drive to the Sheraton.

We had dinner and drinks here again, and all was awesome with that.


Just a few more days till its game on.

No joke - I laughed when I saw this this morning.  Poor little confused 6 month old seal bit some people.  Guess  he knows what October on the Big Island is all about now.

Messy.  I would never, ever, ever do this at my house.

Walking and lugging bike around Kona

I don't see these ones in Maui.

Amazing moth on the crank of a bike.  The trek dudes were cool with it.

The expo is like a lot of this

And this

Andy Potts

Chrissie Wellington

This is a very nice little church that would seat about 10 people.  This is also the first turn-arond spot on the marathon course along Ali'i drive.  I think it's at like mile 4.5 or something.  When you get here, you only have about 22 miles to run... Light at the end of the tunnel.

Beer number one of the day with some 3 year old to play ukulele 

Looking for manta rays