Timeline of events so far in Kona…

1.En route-  I downloaded the wrong “as the crow flies” Instead of the biography of Craig Alexander, I read a fictional account of a wanna-be grocery store owner born in 1900. From selling fruit door-to-door to owning a grocery empire, I successfully got through all 800 pages despite battling through a complete lack of interest. What an achievement!

It actually wasn’t a  bad book…

2. Caught up with friends and family. John’s parents, my parents, Paul, Kim, etc. Much more fun to hang out in paradise than anywhere else.

Cookout on the first night..

3. Toured the sights, dig-me beach, where John accidentally told Chris Lieto “good luck” even though he knew he isn’t racing Kona this year. Also, two trips to the coffee boat, where I managed only one head-on collision with another swimmer.

Coffee boat.. only have to swim half a mile out for this…

Random expo pic.. the expo goes on and on for blocks…

4. More hanging out with friends and family at our awesome digs one mile from the pier on Ali-i Drive. Bikes and runners go by at all hours of the day and night, and the waves literally come up to our doorstep.

The front gate of our house…

The backyard of our house…

5. Participating in the awesome ‘underwear run’ Some very interesting sights to see.  It was hard to take pics while running, so you’ll just have to come see yourself. Our outfits below are painfully tame.

We’re supposed to be flexing here…

Looks like I have temporarily given up on even being able to feign a flex. Paul and John still got it…

6. Being dressed up going to lunch in bike shorts and a jersey. They matched and were relatively clean and new.. it might as well have been black tie

Here I’m actually REALLY dressed up in a tank top

7. Buying the sweetest kit I’ve ever seen from Zoot and the coolest t-shirt I’ve ever seen, too

The bike jersey top is even better… can’t wait to wear it!

8. Meeting Christy and getting a sweet pic of us with me and my Energy Lab t-shirt!

This basically counts as an endorsement, right? (Note: we did  not tell her “good luck”)

9. Planning ambitious events post race, that sound like a great idea right now. They include surfing, SUP-ing, windsurfing, and mountain biking down a volcano. Also, frantically planning how we can come back again whether I race or not! As I told John, “This is a great place for an annual vacation.. heck.. bi-annual”.. and “These are my people! I want to stay here!” etc. etc.

10. More to come soon! Tonight is the banquet, and tomorrow I am planning to be mostly boring and lazy, minus a trip to buy the ten things I forgot.