KONA Wrap-up

I am back home (and not that happy about it). Aside from a 2hr delay spent couped up in the plane sitting on the tarmac, the trip was all smiles. Kona is truly an amazing place, I would think the same holds true even for non-triathletes. There is just something about it. Hard to put a finger on just what "it" is, words just fail to adequately capture and convey the "feeling" of the place.

The trip was simply AWESOME! Great weather, great workouts in breathtakingly beautiful landscapes, spectating an awesome race, spending quality time with great people and some of the best friends I could ask for, and meeting some solid, quality people with whom new friendships were formed. Can't ask for much more than that!

LavaMan:

An awesome race. The venue is insane and it really made me want to race. But just being there was a great experience. Its pretty intense when the likes of Macca, James Cotter, Tim Marr, John Flanagan, Bree Wee, Heather Golnick, Lisa Mensink and others show up for an Olympic distance race. But I guess thats racing life on the Big Island.

Macca took it for the pro men

Lisa Mensink snagged top spot for the women followed closely by Bree (I got some GREAT pics of Bree) my photog skills are lacking.
Sean ran his way to 4th in his Age GroupTrish had a great race in her first triathlon outing in 3 years!! Still all pretty and smiles after it all! Maggs won her age group and was the fastest Hawaiian and thus will be racing in the Best of the U.S. race at the O.C. International Tri this year. I'll be there too (not in the "Best of" class) and it will be rad to see her again and race with her.

The rest of race day was spent at a nearby beach that Sean, Trish and Joe Zenk (superstar canoe paddler, master architect, superb host, green thumb and all around awesome guy) had all to ourselves. With some cold brews and tasty snacks, it doesn't get much better.
After the beach it was time for a little race reward for Sean, Trish, Bree and another racer named Dave. Fish Taco's and a scoop at Huggo's made for a fun evening. Monday brought with it another opportunity to swim the Ironman course which I gladly took advantage of. I would seriously have NO problem whatsoever taking the run from Joe's place to the pier and taking that swim EVERY day. It is that beautiful. This day was made especially so by the appearance of a school of about 40 dolphins who decided I needed some company and hung around for some of the swim. After the swim Sean and I spent about an hour and a half taking a little tour of the island on the bikes working up a little hunger for lunch. And lunch did NOT disappoint. Harbor House grilled fish sandwiches and frosty schooners of Kona Brew Golden Ale were topped off with Acai smoothies. Nothing but smiles!

We decided to BBQ that night, and a feast it was, complete with Joe's ridiculous steak, chicken and sausage, Trish's fresh pasta salad, Bree's guac, veggie filled cous cous, and to top it all off, coconut chocolate chip cookies she baked that were the size of personal pan pizzas! NO joke. It was truly a great way to cap off the trip. The only thing that would have made it better, was a few more days!!

Now I gotta concentrate on Oceanside... Its only 2 days away, and I'm starting to get the jitters.

Aloha.

Ohh and P.S. -- Just as I thought, Brynn crushed her first half Ironman in 5:40 at Superfrog last weekend and took 3rd in her Age Group!!! This even despite the miles of sand running and blisters that made her pretty blue Zoots, not so pretty blue. Lookout Wildflower!