So it's October and I think the last time I opened this thing was almost a year ago, whoops. New goal, start blogging again, and what better time now that the season is pretty much over, my bad. I'll do a recap of what's been happening over here in Hawaii after I get to Kona (sorry Mom, I know you miss this). What better time to start back on the blogosphere than to talk about Kona 2017.
I'm not quite sure where to begin as it's been a long time coming from winning the AG race and qualifying at IM Port Mac (Australia) in May, to Honu a few weeks later in June, a much needed break, some time off from running, ramping up the training and having a super awesome support team to help get me to Kona on October 14.
Let's just get down to the race...in a nutshell for those that don't want to read a drawn out race report, which let's be honest, is probably most people. It typically goes like this....swim, ugh, wave start, clear water for about half the swim, having to swim through a million men and zig zag my way back to the pier and try to avoid getting kicked in the face. Bike, hot, windy, humid, many many girls drafting in packs hiding behind men, I won't name names or numbers, but there were a couple out there that were so blatant and ALLDAYLONG and thankfully they got the penalties they deserved (I digress), hot, windy, humid, hills, hot, windy, humid, that about covers it. Run, hot, lots of people on course with encouraging words, hoses, sprinklers, chalk on the road (I finally saw my name!), hot, did I mention hot?
I was super happy with my swim, a little bit faster than last year 55:06, really though, 7 seconds...next time! One of my big goals this race was to not get grumpy on the bike, not stop pushing when we hit the headwinds at Waikoloa and finish the ride happy, well mission accomplished and my fastest bike time in Kona...so far. The run was a bit of a struggle for me, I'm not happy with the run in it's entirety, but I did spend a lot of time and energy on wanting to have a great last 10k and I did that, the first 32k notsomuch, but the last 10k was according to plan, albeit a bit slower than I wanted, but it was a lot faster and stronger than the first 32k. I wanted to start running "hard" after coming out of the energy lab and finish strong, and I did that, so mission sort of accomplished, my slowest run time in Kona. I did have my fastest overall Kona time and placing, so that's a plus and a great accomplishment that I am happy about, but I'm not satisfied (that's a part of racing I think, always wanting to do more and better and that's what keeps me going), I'll be back!
A few photos to recap the week...
Getting to finally meet my Coeur teamies IRL and the underpants run...first time!
Coffee boat Shenanigans
Pre Race race to go
The all important...starting things off "on the right foot" getting off the plane
Super supporters!
