Kona from a Misfit's Point of View

October was pretty special.  Marcus and I celebrated our birthdays late and decided to go see the Kona World Championships in Hawaii and watch my coach and her gang race against other champions.  My IMAZ training continued however which gave me a brand new level of respect to those race conditions.  I compressed my cycling that week into MTW, and then swam in Kailua Bay where the racers swim, and ran every day along Ali'i drive, where the racers run an out and back.

When we arrived Thursday, it was very windy and the water was choppy so we delayed our workout until pre dinner for the 30 minute swim and ended up running an hour mostly in the dark.  It was cooler but the humidity was obvious and we were as soaked after running as if we had been swimming, but without sun! All I could think was//HOW do these Champs do it on race day?? We ran out of water and found a Subway sandwich shop to refill on the way back or we probably would have turned into raisins before reaching the hotel.

 I brought fins for the swim. Why? I am not a fish!  I was a wreck about no wetsuit, no pull buoy, and super fast swimmers all around me and in MY bubble.  I slowly started off and realized I did know how to swim without a wetsuit and pull buoy and started recognizing the amazing clarity of the bay water....so beautiful with fish and coral and as I was smiling and taking it all it SLAMMM into my head!  I screamed as I looked at a male swimmer with eyes shut, goggles cocked-eyed and I grabbed his shoulders asking if he was ok...he had swam right into the top of my head...probably very fast too!  he shook it off , goggles were not broken, and said he was ok but from then on, I was sighting constantly and swimming wide to stay out of the athletes' way!  He probably thought I was Mr. Magoo!


Friday: Coach said, "45 min OW swim on the swim course- A.M. when coffee boat is out"  WTH does that mean?  Marcus said,"let's eat and then swim, (he loves to delay) but NO she said a.m. and coffee boat so we must follow the plan!!  So off we went with our waterproof camera to keep Marcus entertained while I swam out to sea hoping I didn't drown without my wetsuit... and WAALAAA!  a sign on the ocean floor!!!  I squealed with excitement!  Marcus was no where to be seen of course...and I looked up to see a boat out there serving coffee!  As I got closer I could actually smell the Kona coffee!  wow and it tasted amazing and even had mine with some milk!  Got a souvenir Kona swim cap too!  Finally waved Marcus over who had not seen the sign and he got his coffee.  I continued my swim for the full 45 minutes as Marcus took more pictures of fish and on the way back, we found the sign together and got the picture!

We did a little volunteer work after the swim and decided to take off for my 2 1/2 hour run.  No big deal as I would carry 40oz of water and there would be sponsored water stations along the way.  I was excited to run all of Ali'i drive and the first hill of the run course... AND THEN I STARTED TO COOK...AND SUFFOCATE...AND DRINK EVERYTHING I COULD!   OMG there is no humidity like Kona humidity.  After one hour, I text my coach.  I am dying out here!!!.  This is torture.  She said " think of me at 2pm on race day !"  ....I whimpered...I kept going.  I wore compression to control the swelling but I don't think it helped.  I tried to hold 10min run/ 1 minute walk.  My HOKA Cliftons were killing me, my Achilles was barking, my  hamstrings were screaming... I surely was becoming a raisin..I kept going.  Marcus pushed through hell for 2 hours at his own pace.  I found a water fountain with a blessing note above it right at the 1.5 mile marker before the village and saw it was across from my coach's place.  I sat on the bench and just poured water over my head repeatedly as I reflected on where I was, just a misfit triathlete, amongst all these amazing champions.  I said "suckitupbuttercup"...and took off... but it was like having tape over my mouth while running.  Honestly I could never get used to these conditions.  This was harder than running a marathon.  It was one of the most painful runs of my life.  How do these athlete's adjust to this?  I would have to train inside a sauna for a year.  Alas averaging 11:20 pace, I finished, without the first hill as I just couldn't make myself climb anything at that point and just ran back and forth until my watch said I could stop and collapse.  Time for a nap in A/C please... wow...a champion course is not for the weary.

I went to bed early for Saturday's race monitoring.  I wanted to soak up everything.  Watch the champs in their element while I dragged myself about.  I had seen my coach and friends when they checked in their bikes and they were in great spirits and not nervous since this wasn't their first Kona... hell just another race day for them!  We got pretty good spots for the swim start.  No more total mass starts so first Pro Men, Pro Women, the AG Men, then AG Women.  I started my Garmin watch to check their times as they arrived back from the swim.. the first men were in a bee hive of about 20 swimmers in 55 mins or so!  As the clock ticked by, I knew to look within the AG men for my coach cuz she is THAT fast.  Found  a Roka speedsuit with a pink cap in a swarm of blue caps and there she was in one hour! 

Then we were off to breakfast across from the swim start and listening to the announcer of the other swimmers and we all clapped when the last swimmer made the cutoff which I think was the 75 year old female!  Wow I had the most amazing French toast dipped in macadamia nuts and coconut!

We tracked Coach and friends and others like Apolo and the Nun and the oldest racer with the "new" fan tracker by Ironman... well it's an improvement but still will go for long periods without any updates :(   I watched my coach's bike splits and she was strong and then it dropped a lot and I got worried.  The bike for her is a piece of cake...then we learned the head winds were ferocious and she even saw a girl get blown off her bike!  We saw her start the run and she faked a great smile of silence...or gritted her teeth to pretend she was feeling awesome! Note to self...smile no matter what!  I was in contact with her spouse and he said her hamstrings were killing her.  ummm shall I say..so were mine but hey she is a champ!! We were lucky to have been advised to go to the Newton tent during the expo to leave her an inspirational cheer on video which she received while running through the most difficult part of the run!  It felt great to be a little part of her race day which helped keep her going!

She persevered and had her first IM finish in the dark but the conditions were hell and many DNF'd...and I still was teary-eyed at all she endured  to push through that IM finish arch toward Mike Reilly AGAIN for the 9th time. Missing goals never changed her attitude.  She was grateful to finish and for the experience and that made me even more proud of her.

We rested in our room until 11:45 and rushed down to see the final finishers.  Many had missed all their goals that day due to the conditions.  There's no doubt I never would have made it myself. After the last finisher crossed, the natives danced for the crowd and it was so beautiful to see!  What an awesome memory!

On Sunday, I went for my last wonderful 45 min swim and skipped my run as my legs were toast.  I had knots in my hamstrings and my left achilles was very swollen.  We found a great massage place for a therapeutic massage which was the most painful massage of my life.  I swear she used razor blades on me!  We took the red eye home and landed at 9am in SD.  By noon, I was riding my bike for 5.5 hours and back into my own little IMAZ world of training!

 In summary, all the lean, muscular bodies didn't intimidate me as I expected.  I didn't negative talk myself to death about why I look like me and not like them...I just looked starry-eyed at all of them with such admiration.  I know what they sacrificed to earn that body and those time splits.  I am a mere guppy in the pond of triathletes.  However, our common thread is perseverance, determination, and commitment.  I will honor these champs by standing by these values as I give it my all on November 16, 2014.  Mike Reilly... here I come....