Kona Time!
You want to talk about lucky? I’ll tell you about lucky. I have a wonderful girlfriend who shares my passion for triathlon, heck she’s probably even crazier than I am considering she’s now an Ironman. On top of that, she has an awesome job at United Airlines. Do you know what that means? Yep, we get to just hop on airplanes whenever and to where ever without a fee of any sort. It’s awesome.
That being said, we decided a couple weeks ago that we wanted to go see the Ironman World Championships in Kailua Kona, HI. Well, the time is almost upon us. We’re leaving tomorrow night or Thursday morning with the intention of coming back Sunday. Our traveling is always by the seat of our pants because we fly standby, so we’ll see when we actually get there and what airports we actually go through to get there.
The big race is Saturday, and will pretty much last the entire day. To be precise, 17 hours. 17 hours of watching people leave their hearts and souls out on the lava fields to hear Mike Reilly tell them they are an Ironman as they cruise down Ali’i Drive. Aside from all the age groupers that are competing, every (long distance) pro you could think of will be there. Who’s going to win the women’s race? Chrissie Wellington, Mirinda Carfrae, Julie Dibens, or a dark horse? What about the men? Talk about a loaded field. Can Chris Lieto finally pull through and knock Craig Alexander off his throne? Don’t forget about Chris McCormack. Or what about Terenzo Bozzone? Andy Potts is taking Ironman by storm, he’s definitely someone to worry about. Heck, he has the ability to lead from start to finish if all goes well.
I’m getting all sorts of excited just writing this, but I write for a different purpose. Do YOU have friends racing? What are their bib numbers? I’m going to be snapping pictures right and left with the intent of taking well over a zillion photos of my experience. If there are certain people or situations you’d like to see, let me know and I’ll do my best to get some shots for you. Once we’re back, I’ll load everything into a flickr gallery or something.
Until then, check out www.ironmanlive.com for full, live race coverage all day long. If I remember correctly, it gets started about 12:00 PM CST. Hopefully Ironman took a few notes from the Rev3 Tri Series this past year and will be doing some much better coverage than they have in years past.
Lastly, to those racing this weekend, GOOD LUCK!!!! Some may be racing in Kona, some may be running the Chicago Marathon. I hope you all crush your goals, stay healthy through your race, and love every second you’re out there.
(I do not own rights to any photos published. If you are viewing and have rights to any of these and would like them removed, please email me and I’ll gladly take them down)
