What a fun morning. Headed over to Lava Java to watch the waves roll into the shore. Ocean looked calmer today. Still lots of swimmers, bikers, runners. The hardest part about today is resisting the urge to get out there and join them. But everyone has their own plan, and we have ours.
Joined Jeff Keil – fellow Trisports.com teammate – outside Lava Java. He is ready. Talked about the silly swimmers out there and whether or not to wear socks on the run. The important things. He will run well on Saturday, I told him it wasn’t a choice. He will do it.
Walked over to the ABC store to buy a towel and ran into Ohio power couple Scott and Andrea Myers both fresh off of top performances at Best of the US. Poor Andrea – she has a cold. Scott looks ready to go and fresh as ever.
Next to the expo to buy cycling gloves. I forgot my gloves at home and after a few sweaty slips on the bars holding on in crosswind I decided I needed gloves. Walking behind us was the legenadry Queen of Kona – Paula Newby-Fraser.
Also ran into Missouri athlete Andy Pele. What a nice guy. I didn’t know he was a mailman which raised all sorts of questions about who was delivering the mail while he was gone. He’s ready to go too. Heck, we all are.
Then we went to the Power Bar breakfast. On the way there, a very speedy Natascha Badmann was riding with her one-man-posse down Kuakini Highway. Does she ever slow down?
The breakfast was great. Power Bar is one of the best sponsors around. I’ve been with them since 2003 and their geneoristy always amazes me. The food was delicious, a variety of fresh fruit and yummy mac nut banana bread.
Sitting there we were surrounded by celebrity in the sport. Belinda Granger – very chatty, very small. What you notice about the pro’s is they are all super small. Not much taller than me and lean lean lean. Luke Bell was there doing an interview. I believe Carole Sharpless was there telling Belinda about her recent bike crash as she was now sporting two broken wrists. Joanna Zeiger, Ben-Jamin Widoff. On our way out, we noticed Sam McGlone.
We are tanked up on good food and now off to visit our sports chiropractor. He works at the A.R.T. tent every year and we are fortunate he is here to stretch us out. Then, we’ve decided to do some snorkeling in the bay. The winds are light, the sky is clear.
Last night a funny thing happened. Chris was grilling at the cabana and shouted “Liz, this lady reads your blog!” Met a fan of the blog out there, Jo Adamson, from Atlanta. What a smile, and lots of Ironman spirit.
We’ll need all that spirit on race day. Wherever you are, cheer early, cheer often, and cheer LOUD!
