Kona Day 1

Well I made it to our Condo in Kona late Friday night (11:30pm Hawaii time; thats 5:30am Saturday Eastern standard Time). I was pretty wiped out by the time I got here, not sleeping well on the plane due to a muscle cramp in the middle of my back. I somehow managed to unpack and get to sleep by 12:30.

At 6:30am on Saturday morning and put my bike together. I wanted to get a swim in fairly early, so I ate a hammer bar for breakfast since I hadn't gone grocery shopping yet. The swim start is less than 1/2 mile from our hotel and I got there about 8:30 - swam about a mile. On my way there I crossed paths with Michelle Jones, womens winner of last years Ironman World Championships.

It was a really nice swim with the fish, clear water, and fairly calm surf. Unfortunately a 1/4 mile into the swim, the salt water and my skin suit conspired to chafe my arm pits (I didn't think to put on body glide). About 1/2 mile in I decided the fire under my arms would not heal very well if I kept going at the same rate, so I pulled the top of my skin suit down and headed back to the start. I finished in about 37 minutes with plenty of stops - I'm only guessing that it was a mile.

On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at a local farmers market and picked up some organic bananas. Yum. When I got back to the hotel, I finished a few items on my bike assembly and hit the road for a 2 hour ride. It was a really nice ride and I met a couple of nice folks from Australia. I got back to the hotel, scarfed whatever food was handy, then headed for the grocery store. At the store, I was kind of out of it, and picked up a few random items, knowing that I was tight on time - I had to pick up Sena and Rachel at the airport at 2:50.

Before heading to the airport, I scarfed a couple of PB&Js and a glass of milk. Once at the airport, the parking lot was full, so I waited roadside for a while, waiting for a call from Sena which didn't come. Long story short - their flight was 2 hours late and I just sat in the car waiting and waiting.

All ended well when we got back to the condo and had a nice meal and an early bedtime.