We've Arrived!

Actually, we got in on Saturday night...but very late. And, I haven't been able to get on the internet until today. Saturday was a long day. We were up around 4:30am and after 3 flights, arrived in Kona around 6:30 (12:30 est), and in bed about 3 hours later. So, we were up for almost 24 hours. We've finally settled in. And, I'm looking forward to getting some sort of schedule established over the next day or so. It's great to be back here. It definitely has a different feel than last year. I'm not sure if I can put my finger on why that is. But, it could be that I've been here before...or that I'm just tired. There are lots of athletes already here....Alii Drive is teeming...looks like an out and back race....athletes up and down the road. You really have to be careful pulling out of the condo driveway, because most of the athletes aren't looking where they're going. I saw a bunch of pros yesterday, including last year's winners Chrissie Wellington and Craig Alexander.

I went for a disasterous run yesterday. I ran about 45 minutes. On my way out on Alii, things were fine....perhaps a little quick. But, by the time I turned around and added a little tempo piece, my heartrate skyrocketed and I couldn't get it down. No worries though...I just attribute it in part to the heat, but more to the travel fatigue. After my run, I headed out to the QT2 house to drop off my bike box. This year a bunch of us paid to help bring Brian Hughes of Fastsplits out to Kona as our "mechanic"! So, he'll be putting my bike back together. It's going to be nice having a personal mechanic here. There are over 1600 athletes here...and only a handful of bike mechanics. Last year I got a flat on my first training ride and wound up replacing both tubular tires. That alone ran me $300. Not only will Brian work on the bikes, but he also shipped a bunch of things out to Kona, including parts and spare tubulars. The QT2 house is a bit out of town...but has some great views. Here's a pic of QT2 Pro Cait Snow with a great backdrop!

After dropping the bike off, I headed to the airport to pick up my buddy Chris Ramsey who is staying in the same condo complex with us.

Finally, yesterday was our 6th Year Anniversary (not a bad way to spend it!). So, Jenn and I went out to a place called Jamisons for dinner. Food was decent, but the view was awesome. We were both outcold by 8pm. BTW, we won't really be doing too many dinners out before the race, as I try to keep the weight down. As of Saturday morning (before we left), I had gotten my weight down just below my weight from last year, which had been the lightest I'd been in 10 years.

We haven't really gone into town yet (other than driving through it). Today we'll head down to Lava Java, hit the swim venue, and I'll take the bike out for a ride. Unitl then, I'll leave you with some pics of the view from our lanai.

-P