Much has
happened since I made my last entry in the Kona Journals –
the war continues, Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston split ,
Mark Foley got caught and no less shocking to some, Peter
Reid retired. I’m sorry he did – but only from the point of
view of writing these journals. It was easy to come up with
something to write about when you were hanging with the
world champ as he prepped for the big day.
Still I
shouldn’t think it will be too difficult to come up with an
observation or two while I’m over there.
And the
trip certainly started out with a bang – one that measured
6.5 on the Richter scale! It seems the Gods were angry and
unleashed a little fury on the islands yesterday. If I’m to
believe the fair and balanced reports on Fox, half the
island has sunk away and the other half has descended into
madness and anarchy. Last night I managed to get through to
a friend who had arrived ahead of me. She confirmed there
had, indeed, been a shaker and yes, there was damage. She
found a crack in the wall outside her condo but she’s not
sure if it was there before. Risking it all I decided to
get on the plane this morning.
So this, my
first entry, is being typed at 30,000 feet. I’m somewhere
in between Los Angeles and Kona. We’re scheduled to touch
down in less than two hours. There is a sense of foreboding
amongst the passengers. On second thoughts, there are a lot
of triathletes on this flight. It’s probably pre-race
jitters or maybe it’s just my cramping legs in this tiny
space. I wasn’t able to use my points to bump up. In
another stroke of foul luck, I’ve already seen the movie!
Sandra and Keanu, together again. That will surely be the
end of my bad luck.
Still, I
could be doing a lot worse than heading to Kona to hang with
friends and write my thoughts on the whole crazy Ironman
business!
If the Gods
are angry maybe it’s because they saw Pete’s name wasn’t on
the start list. I’ve met more than one cat who took his
retirement personally, as though his decision somehow should
have been first blessed by the masses. Bugger them all.
This year a good time is going to be had! That doesn’t just
mean there’ll be more beer and more fun food in the fridge,
of course there will be, but it means we’ll be getting out
on our bikes, hitting some restaurants and bars. Last year
there was a rigid schedule to adhere to a rigid diet to
adhere to. There wasn’t a lot room in that schedule for
fun. It’ll be different this year! We’ve got a four hour
mountain bike planned – some crazy decent from 9,500 meters
and we’re going to man an aid station out at the Energy Lab
on race day. I know I’ll enjoy that but I’m not sure how
Pete’s going to feel. It’s gotta be strange for the guy to
hand out water to the future of the sport. I know that
regrets have been few to none in regards to his decision to
walk away but I can’t help but wonder how he’ll feel as
we’re standing out in the heat. I suspect he’ll have a few
“moments”. But mostly we’ll be cheering for everyone –
well, almost everyone.
Of course,
our loudest cheers will be reserved for Lori! Training for
an Ironman at the elite level is a challenge to say the
least. For Lori those challenges were multiplied ten fold.
Bet against her at your own peril! We’ve each got our lists
of favorites – those we think will do well and those we hope
will do well. Sadly they’re seldom the same lists.
For the fun
of it we’re going to come up with some simple little point
system and see who walks away with a bottle of the winner’s
choosing. I haven’t got my list together yet but maybe I’ll
make the pool public when I do.
Well, we’ve
landed in Kona. The rain is coming down sideways in sheets
so hard some people don’t want to get off the plane – and
now there’s a bad smell assaulting my nostrils. Someone’s
dinner isn’t agreeing with them.
We’re off
to a helluva start!
